


Band Closet Confessions

by Thatonegayone



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, I just love these lesbians so damn much, The Broadway group will be coming later I promise, any TWs are in the notes before the chapter they take place in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-05-07 14:18:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19211161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatonegayone/pseuds/Thatonegayone
Summary: She wasn’t looking for a refuge at first.When Emma Nolan walked into the band closet for the first time as part of the tour by Mr. Flynn, the beleaguered band teacher, as “training” for her new role as the band equipment manager, there was something about the small room that brought a sense of peace to Emma. The smell of pine from the boxes that store the marching band’s uniforms during off-season, the soft light emitting from the singular light bulb dangling from a cord, and the quietness that filled the room. It all made Emma feel safe and secure.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, so this is my first ever time writing anything like this. I just really really love these two and I thought it'd be fun to explore their time in the band closet. Lemme know if it's any good or not.

She wasn’t looking for a refuge at first.

When Emma Nolan walked into the band closet for the first time as part of the tour by Mr. Flynn, the beleaguered band teacher, as “training” for her new role as the band equipment manager, there was something about the small room that brought a sense of peace to Emma. The smell of pine from the boxes that store the marching band’s uniforms during off-season, the soft light emitting from the singular light bulb dangling from a cord, and the quietness that filled the room. It all made Emma feel safe and secure. 

After a quick explanation of the importance of making sure this space was organized and clean, Emma was handed a key and was ushered out by the Mr. Flynn as the bell marking the end of this class period chimed over the intercom. 

Emma wasn’t looking for a refuge until the rumors started. 

At first she was curious why Kevin and Shelby walked up to the table where she was eating lunch and catching up on “The Scarlet Letter” for Lit. 

Emma took pride in the fact that she flew under everyone’s radars. Kids are mean, and Edgewater, Indiana isn’t the most welcoming place for people like her, so existing under the nose of the school’s student body was just fine with her. 

“Hey Emma,” Kevin said, sliding into the seat across from her. “I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me, like on a date?” 

Shelby tried (and failed) to keep a smile off of her face, trying to hide behind the façade of a supportive friend. Emma started to think very carefully about her next choice of words as her palms began to sweat.

“Umm, I’m flattered. Kevin – really, but I’m just not in a place to date anyone. You know, gotta focus on college applications,” Emma said. Hoping that the excuse was believable enough for the two. 

“Huh, that’s funny,” Kevin said, stifling a laugh. “I figured it was because you’re a raging homo.”

“Yeah,” Shelby added. “Besides, who would even want to be with you, you fugly dyke.”

The final word rang through the cafeteria, ending all side conversation and causing heads to whip around with a laser focus on the three. 

Emma didn’t know how to respond. A witty retort? A straight out denial (and lie)? Or just stay quiet and wait for this all to be over. It felt like all of the air was knocked out of her and she as struggling to maintain her composure. The silence was deafening, with just that word hanging in the air, taunting Emma.

Next thing she knew, the world was in slow-mo and everyone was laughing. Emma didn’t know what to do. Her heart rate skyrocketed and her fight-or-flight instincts kicked in. Grabbing her bag, she made a beeline for the hallway, out of the cafeteria. Panic was engulfing her mind and adrenaline was shooting through her bloodstream thanks to her racing heart.

She made it out of the room, but not before accidentally making eye contact with Alyssa Greene who was walking back in from the bathroom, happily chatting with Kaylee. Emma registered the look of confusion in Alyssa’s eyes as she brushed passed the cheerleaders and began to run down the hall. 

She wasn’t sure where her feet were taking her until she reached the band closet. 

“How fitting,” she mumbled under her breath, unlocking the door.

After making sure that the door was properly locked behind her, Emma slid down against the solid wood until she reached the floor, hugging her knees to her chest and trying to take some calming breaths, letting the darkness and quiet wash over her. 

_Well, there goes that plan_ Emma thought bitterly. The goal was to stay under the radar and comfortably in the closet until she was out of this hellhole of a town and somewhere safe and happy and, well, gay positive, where she could start to actually be herself. 

After what seemed like seconds, the bell rang. Releasing all students to their 5th period classes, and Emma had to leave her safe haven. Everything in her body was telling her to skip Chem today, but they had a lab, and despite being one of the best in the class, she couldn’t afford to get a zero for the day. 

Steeling herself, Emma took a deep breath and stood up. Her knees were shaking, but she didn’t let them stop her from trying to regain any and all composure that she lost in the cafeteria and opened the door to an empty hallway thanks to a lack of classes in this wing of the school during the period. 

Walking down the halls of James Madison High School was different now. No longer was Emma passing by, undetected, she was the center of attention and not in a good way. She, thankfully, made it to Chemistry with no incidents and sat down in her chair at the back corner of the classroom before most of her peers came meandering through the door as the bell rang. One of the last in was Alyssa Greene whose big brown eyes, filled with pity and a slight glimmer of… something else, met Emma’s. Alyssa only broke the contact to sit down when Mrs. Benton called the class to order. 

“Today, we are going to be having a little fun!” She said, smiling at the classroom. “We are going to be making our own peanut brittle!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The band closet was Emma’s quiet place for months. Very few people knew about it, and even less had access to it, making it the perfect spot for her to escape the insults being constantly hurled at her. She hardly ate lunch in the cafeteria anymore and would avoid the packs of cheerleaders and football players to the best of her ability.
> 
> Well, most of them anyways. 
> 
> Well, all of them but one curly haired cheerleader with dimples and horrible chemistry skills.

The band closet was Emma’s quiet place for months. Very few people knew about it, and even less had access to it, making it the perfect spot for her to escape the insults constantly being hurled at her. She hardly ate lunch in the cafeteria anymore and would avoid the packs of cheerleaders and football players to the best of her ability.

Well, most of them anyways.

Well, all of them but one curly haired cheerleader with dimples and horrible chemistry skills.

Whenever she could, Emma found herself sneaking glances at Alyssa Greene — Something that proved to be easy considering that they were in 4 out of 7 classes together and Alyssa was always answering questions or actively participating in class discussion. When she was not doing that, she was accidentally blowing things up in Chemistry, much to the annoyance of Mrs. Benton.

There was something about Alyssa that intrigued Emma. Sure, she was smart, kind, and stunning — but there was something else about her that Emma couldn’t quite put her finger on, and if there was anything Emma liked more than her band closet, it was puzzles, and Alyssa Greene was proving to be one of the most interesting puzzles Emma had ever come across.

A couple times Alyssa would look back and make eye contact with Emma while stretching. They never held it for long, but it was enough to have Emma’s heart racing and it really set in just how much she liked Alyssa.

— —

November rolled around and with that came the annual Thanksgiving pep rally. It was the school’s way of keeping the students appeased with only having a half day before four days off for the holiday. Emma was actually pretty excited for the pep rally — something that had nothing to do with the a certain cheerleader and Junior Class President performing not once, but twice with her organizations.

Emma was ready to relax and be with her peers and not be the center of attention and ridicule for two hours. That is until a flustered Mr. Flynn found her in the halls.

“Emma! Thank God!” He said, pulling her to the side of the hall. “I need you to do me a huge favor. I need you to do something in the pep rally tomorrow. Karen Rosenthal has mono and I have everything perfectly timed to fit the entire 2 hours we have for the rally. Please please please tell me you can play something — anything— on that guitar you have in the band closet.” The poor man was red in the face and clearly panicking, making it harder for Emma to say no.

“Umm. Yeah. I- I think I can do something.” Emma said quickly. “I can do _Imagine_ , I know it pretty well on the guitar. I’m not perfect by any means, but I can do it.”

“Yeah- Yeah that could work! _Imagine_ is nice and Thanksgiving-y. You’re going to be going third, after the cheerleaders and before the football team’s skit. Thank you Emma,” he said before rushing down the hall to his office to, what Emma could guess, fix the schedules and order of performances.

It wasn’t until Emma was halfway through Lit that the realization of what she just agreed to hit her like a ton of bricks. She, Emma Nolan, perhaps the most hated person in the entire school, had to perform in front of her peers who wanted nothing more than to make her life a living hell.

Lunch was spent going over chords and lyrics over and over again instead of eating. Chemistry was spent practicing the chord progressions in the palm of her hand. The second she got home, Emma was practicing the song, kicking herself for agreeing to do this.

After hours of tossing and turning, hyper focused on absolutely everything that could go wrong during the pep rally, Emma’s morning alarm went off.

An hour later she was standing on the side of the gym with all the other performers white knuckling her guitar. The only thing that distracted her from her terror was none other than Alyssa Greene.

Decked out in her cheer uniform with her hair pulled back into a high ponytail, she nearly took Emma’s breath away. Well, she definitely would have if Emma wasn’t already hyperventilating. It definitely didn’t help when she flashed a smile at Emma before running and jumping onto the stage.

Music blared through the crappy sound system that was set up in the gym and the entire cheer team began to dance. The football team whooped and whistled as the girls performed. Emma’s mouth went dry as Alyssa twirled and executed some dance moves that were definitely not school appropriate in time with the music and the squad.

Emma was hyper focused on Alyssa as she performed, tuning out everything and everyone else around her. It wasn’t until she heard a wave of applause echo around the gym that she snapped out of it and realized it was her turn to go up.

On her way towards the stage, she passed Alyssa and their eyes met. Alyssa gave a soft smile to Emma as she passed her, Kaylee and Shelby jittering on either side of her.

Emma took a shaky breath and walked up the stairs. The room went quiet and she heard some slight snickering. She sat down on the stool Mr. Flynn brought up and adjusted the mics which filled the gym with painful feedback.

“Uh, hi. I’m Emma. Um. Here goes I guess.”

She strummed the guitar, closed her eyes and sang.

It went fine. No one threw anything at Emma while she played, and she only messed up one or two chords and stumbled over a couple lyrics, which was definitely better than she anticipated.

Honestly. It was all going better than Emma thought it would until she finished and someone yelled out “LESBO” which was met with thunderous laughter followed by booing.

Emma left the stage and kept walking until she was out of the gym and back in her band closet, wiping her tears on the sleeve of her jacket. There was still an hour and 45 until the pep rally was over and then Emma could either sneak out before her peers were released, or she could wait another 30 minutes until the parking lot was empty.

Not wanting to risk getting caught, Emma decided to wait it out by finishing “A Tale of Two Cities” for Lit.

Three chapters later, Emma heard a soft knock at the door.

“Emma? Are you in there?” The muffled voice sounded hesitant and a little worried. “It’s me. Alyssa. Um, Alyssa Greene. Are you okay in there?”

Emma closed her eyes for a second to recollect herself from the mini heart attack that Alyssa’s knocking caused her and stood up to open the door to a meek Alyssa Greene.

“Hi. Can I come in?” Alyssa asked, looking sheepishly at Emma, and giving a slight smile when Emma took a step to the side to let her into the closet, closing the door behind her.

“Mr. Flynn said I could find you here. I saw that you left after your song, and I am so so so sorry about what those guys said. You don’t deserve that. And honestly, your performance was good. Like really good. Like so good I can’t even believe it. Are you okay? I just want to make sure that you’re okay-“ Alyssa’s sentences mashed together and all came out as one big pile of word vomit.

 _Honestly, babbling Alyssa was really cute,_ Emma thought to herself before scolding her inner thoughts for encouraging her heart with its little – okay, big- crush on the straight girl standing in front of her.

“Alyssa. Um- thanks for checking in on me, you don’t have to do that. I know you’d rather be watching the pep rally with the rest of the school instead of being here with me. But you don’t have to lie to me, it wasn’t even that good. I was flat and I messed up some words and my chords were all wrong.”

“No, Emma, you were fantastic. I would honestly give anything to be as brave as you were. You just went up there and – and it was like you were in your own little world. It was amazing.” She said, followed by “I really liked watching you perform,” in a lower tone. Her cheeks gave off a slight pink glow that Emma found endearing.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them. They held each other’s gaze before Alyssa’s eyes flitted down to Emma’s lips and she cleared her throat, starting to look around the small room.

“So is this where you eat lunch now? I’ve noticed you’re never in the cafeteria much anymore.”

Emma was clearly taken aback.

“Wait, you noticed that I wasn’t there?”

“Well, I mean- yeah. Why?” Alyssa asked while sitting down on the floor.

“It’s just that, not many people notice me unless they’re being an asshole. I just am not used to it I guess,” Emma said, following suit and sliding down the wall to face Alyssa on the floor.

“Emma! Of course I notice you! We’ve had classes together for years! Plus you’re the only one in Chem who hasn’t blown anything up which means you actually know what you’re doing,” Alyssa said with a chuckle, clearly remembering somehow blowing up peanut brittle, sending shards throughout entire classroom.

“Speaking of blowing things up, Alyssa, how does one blow up peanut brittle? I’ve been dying to know for weeks now,” Emma laughed, loving how Alyssa’s cheeks went from pink to straight up red.

“Oh God, can we please never bring that up again. I can’t even smell peanuts anymore without flinching.”

“Aww no! I gotta say though, it was pretty cute watching your face as it happened.” Emma laughed, not realizing what she had said before it was out there, hanging in the ether of the band closet. Then it dawned on her what she just did. Emma’s heart started to race as it hit her that she just ruined any hope she had of even getting Alyssa to be her friend.

Emma was expecting Alyssa to look at her with disgust, or say something about being a “disgusting homo”, or just running out of the room and telling the entire school. She wasn’t ready for Alyssa to blush yet again and subtly bite her lip.

“Oh, well I am glad that you thought it was cute because I for sure wasn’t feeling it,” Alyssa responded. She looked down for a second to Emma lips again before meeting her eyes once more.

Emma’s heart rate started to pick up and the entire room crackled with tension that neither girl was familiar with. She began to lean forward to say – something – when the bell rang and snapped the both of them out of the charged moment. Alyssa gave her head a small shake and began to stand up, offering her hand to help Emma up as well.

“Hey so, um you know, I could always use some help with Chemistry, and lunch is the only time that I can actually get some work done. I feel like this place is probably better and quieter than the library and if you’re here you could maybe help me. I mean, that is if you’re okay with that, of course? Like maybe once a week? I know that this is your place, so I completely get if you don’t want me here.” Alyssa looked at Emma slightly nervous, ready for a no.

Emma, on the other hand, was currently focused on the proximity between Alyssa and herself after she was helped to her feet. The two girls would have been nose-to-nose if Emma wasn’t a couple inches taller than Alyssa.

 _Has Emma always been this tall?_ Alyssa thought. _And has she always had these freckles on her nose? Have her eyes always been this pretty? God, when did Emma become so – beautiful?_

“Oh! Uh, yeah, I would love to help you out Alyssa,” Emma said, breaking Alyssa out of her stupor. “How about you come on by on Tuesdays and we can study together and stuff.”

Alyssa broke into an alluring smile at the words and quickly handed Emma her phone so that Emma could put her number in.

“Okay! Awesome! I will see you Tuesday, Emma Nolan!” Alyssa was beaming as she started to walk out the door. “Oh! And Happy Thanksgiving Emma. You did really really great today.”

“Happy Thanksgiv-“ Emma tried to get the whole word out before the door closed behind Alyssa.

 _Well that took an unexpected turn_ she thought to herself while packing up her stuff to head out to her truck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wrote the first two chapters all in one night because I can't sleep so I won't promise that the next chapter turnaround will be as quick. Thanks for reading y'all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Within a couple weeks, Alyssa became a regular in the band closet. She would knock on the door on Tuesdays right as the lunch period started and would peak her head into the room. It never failed to make Alyssa smile when she saw Emma sitting on a box of old sheet music strumming her guitar, in her own little world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 BB! Thank you to everyone for reading all of this. Y'all make my heart very very happy. TW:D-slur

Within a couple weeks, Alyssa became a regular in the band closet. She would knock on the door on Tuesdays right as the lunch period started and would peak her head into the room. It never failed to make Alyssa smile when she saw Emma sitting on a box of old sheet music strumming her guitar, seemingly lost in her own little world.

Their conversations started out solely focused on chemistry. When Alyssa began to actually grasp the concepts and chemical equations, the conversations shifted. Starting with basic topics like what each girl was bingeing on Netflix or what was going around the school’s gossip mill. They then graduated to more personal discussions. Alyssa would walk into the closet and vent about her mother, and Emma started to let her walls down and talk about just how much she was hurting at the hands of the student body.

Tuesdays easily became the best day of both of their week, and as time went on it was harder for Emma to push down the feelings she had for Alyssa. Yes, she was ecstatic to finally have a genuine friend, but this was Alyssa Greene. The definition of beauty: Alyssa Greene. The incredibly funny and surprisingly quirky: Alyssa Greene. One of the only person in all of Edgewater, Indiana who gave a shit about Emma: Alyssa Greene.

Whenever the two weren’t in the band closet, they were texting. Alyssa would send cat gifs and words of encouragement, and Emma made sure to be the last one to say goodnight and the first to say good morning.

They'd exchange small smiles to each other in the halls, but never enough to tip anyone off about their budding friendship — something that was entirely Emma’s idea, she didn’t want her reputation to impact Alyssa in any way.

They did such a good job of just barely avoiding each other that Emma knew something was wrong when she saw Alyssa standing at her locker with a panicked look on her face.

“Alyssa?” One quick look at her locker that Alyssa was trying to block, and Emma could see the letter “D” in bright red spray paint glaring at her over Alyssa’s head.

“Emma- I’m so sorry. Mr Hawkins said the janitor is going to repaint it after school, but they can’t do anything about it right now.” She looked at Emma like a kicked puppy. “He also told me you are excused from next period. He emailed Mrs. Henningson and told her what’s going on.”

Emma’s vision was blurred by tears. Yeah being called a dyke hurt, but it was only a word that was thrown at her in passing. This was her locker, her property, her space. This was more than just words, this was vandalization which meant the school board would have to get involved and then her parents would have to know what’s been happening. Fuck. This was all just too much for her to handle. Breathing became harder, like an elephant was sitting on her chest, and her blood was boiling. Emma started to run down the hall to the only place where she knew she could breathe.

Alyssa didn’t know what to do, all she knew was that she had an overwhelming need to make sure Emma was okay. So, when Emma took off, bolting down the now empty halls, Alyssa followed her.

——

In the safety of the band closet, Emma broke down. She slumped against the door and held her knees to her chest.

Three small knocks on the door meant that Alyssa had followed Emma.

“Emma, can you let me in?”

Silence.

“Emma, please, I want to help.”

Alyssa heard the soft click of the door being unlocked. She walked into the room to find Emma standing in front of her, shaking.

“Oh no. Emma, come here, it’s okay.” She sat Emma down and pulled the crying girl into her lap, wrapping her arms around her. Alyssa wanted nothing more than to make the hurt go away.

“I’m just so fucking sick of this,” Emma mumbled into Alyssa’s chest. “I just want to be treated like a normal person.”

“I know.”

Emma stood up, anger coursing through her veins now that she finished crying. “I want some goddamn people on my side for once.”

“Emma, there are people on your side!” Alyssa said, standing up to face Emma.

“Yeah? Well where the hell are they?!” Emma yelled as she tried to keep the tears in her eyes from overflowing. The last thing she wanted to do was cry any more, but there was something in her body that desperately needed to let out all of the pain.

Alyssa opened her mouth to say something but nothing came; instead she grabbed Emma’s face and kissed her.

Everything was suddenly drawn into vivid detail, like when Emma puts her glasses on in the morning and the haze is brought into complete clarity. Alyssa’s lips were softer than Emma ever dreamed they could be, and there was a faint taste of mint from the gum Alyssa was chewing. Emma didn’t grasp what was happening until Alyssa began to pull away. Desperate to have this go on longer to convince herself she wasn’t imagining it all, Emma chased Alyssa’s lips, going in for another kiss, this time using her hands to draw Alyssa in closer.

Alyssa’s heart was racing as she tried to focus on her breathing and the fact that she was kissing a girl — not just any girl — she was kissing Emma. Alyssa smiled into the kiss as Emma’s hands wrapped around her waist, the slight pressure keeping her from flying away. Her breath caught in her throat and her body was flooded with heat as Emma's fingers started to slightly dig into her hips.

They separated after what seemed like hours. Alyssa looked at Emma, whose eyes were still red from crying, but were sparkling. Then, her entire world came crashing down in those seconds post-kiss and Alyssa’s heart was racing — not for the kissing Emma related reason — but for the there is no going back now reason.

What if Shelby and Kaylee found out? Oh God, what if her mom found out? Alyssa would be on the streets without a friend in the world.

Then it all stopped as fast as it started and a warmth began to wash over her.

Emma would be there.

Emma, with her half-smile and adorably awkward laugh. Emma, with her soft hazel eyes and brilliant mind. Emma, who was the most genuine person in Edgewater, Indiana. Emma, who was currently looking at Alyssa with curiosity mixed with — what Alyssa could only guess — fear.

“Emma Nolan. You are the bravest and most beautiful person I have ever met,” Alyssa whispered as she pressed her forehead against Emma’s, trying to quell the storm of anxieties brewing underneath her skin.

Not knowing what else to do, Alyssa grabbed her bag and quickly left the band closet for the nearest bathroom. She checked to make sure that there was minimal proof that she just experienced what was perhaps the most important kiss of her life. Alyssa brought her fingers up to touch her lips, still feeling where Emma was only seconds earlier. She took a shaky breath and checked her phone to see how long she had before the bell — five minutes— not long enough to go back and try to formulate sentences out of the hurricane of emotions that was swirling around her head.

Alyssa would just have to settle with text instead. 

— —

Alyssa: Hey, I want you to know that I meant absolutely everything that just happened Emma. You are amazing, and I’m sorry that no one else sees you the way that I do.

Emma: Meet me back in the band closet after school? I feel like we need to talk a little more

Alyssa: Yeah, I would love that! I don’t have practice anymore so I can meet you right after the bell.

— —

Alyssa locked her phone and left the bathroom to go to History. Luckily she had a test today, so she had to focus on only the test in front of her, distracting her from her thoughts of the girl she left in the band closet.

The rest of the school day finished with little incident — which was great because Alyssa was using all of her brainpower to try and figure out what to say to Emma. She deciding to treat it like a speech for the debate team and say something eloquent and moving that she could make up on the spot. After all, she was the state champion for impromptu speaking.

— —

Emma just looked at Alyssa, not knowing who should speak first. She had called the meeting, but Alyssa had also just kissed her, so saying Emma didn’t know the protocol in this particular situation was an understatement. She began to open her mouth to talk when Alyssa blurted out-

“Imalesbian!”

 _There goes eloquent and moving, way to go Alyssa,_ she scolded herself.

“Wait, let me try that again. I’m a lesbian. Wow-that’s weird to say.”

“Feels good though, right?” Emma said, trying to keep her smile from getting too big at the girl’s confession.

“Yeah, it does,” Alyssa said with a laugh. Why had this been so hard for her to figure out? She was 16 and had never had a crush on a boy before, but looking back she could think of all the times her “girl crushes” were far more than just liking how someone did her hair or dressed.

“So, you think I’m beautiful?” Emma teased. Her eyes glimmered with hope as they flitted between Alyssa’s lips and eyes.

Alyssa answered without saying anything. Instead she leaned in and slid her hands up to Emma’s cheeks, fingers lightly pressing into her hairline and kissed her. Emma gently held her hands on Alyssa’s shoulders, almost like she was worried she was going to break her.

The two were lost in the moment, oblivious to anything outside of their band closet. They weren’t expecting Alyssa’s phone to interrupt them. Not wanting to let go of Emma, Alyssa held her hand while she used the other to answer her phone.

“Hey Mom! Sorry, I’ve been running some laps for a quick workout before coming home, that’s why I’m so out of breath.” Alyssa winked at a visibly smug Emma. 

“Uh, yeah, I can come home, let me just change back into my regular clothes. Okay. Yes ma’am. I love you too, Mom. Okay. Bye.” She hung up the phone and let out a breathy laugh, looking back up at Emma. “I’m sorry, I have to go. She has dinner guests coming over and I have to play the part of the doting daughter. But Emma Nolan, I like you. Like I really like you, and while that’s terrifying, I want to see where this goes.”

“I get it and I am so down to keep this a just-us-in-the-band-closet-thing.” Emma looked down at their joined hands to check her watch and went pale. “Shit! I’m late for work. Will I see you Tuesday?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Alyssa leaned in for one more quick kiss. The two put their backpacks back on and went their separate ways, smiling to themselves for the rest of the day.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alyssa was running out of excuses to skip lunch with her cheer squad, but who could blame her? The squad wasn’t Emma. Cute, kissable Emma. 
> 
> Emma definitely wasn’t complaining, she would happily take any second she could get with Alyssa. 
> 
> Their hour lunches would fly by. The two would talk about anything and everything. Emma became very familiar with the ins and outs of the cheer squad drama and Alyssa’s home life, and Alyssa became used to Emma making light of her strained relationship with parents and the hate she faces at school.

Alyssa was running out of excuses to skip lunch with her cheer squad, but who could blame her? The squad wasn’t Emma. Cute, kissable Emma.

Emma definitely wasn’t complaining, she would happily take any second she could get with Alyssa.

Their hour lunches would fly by. Emma quickly became familiar with the ins and outs of the cheer squad drama and the stress of Alyssa’s home life, and Alyssa became used to Emma making light of her strained relationship with parents and the hate she faced everyday at school.

When they weren’t talking or eating their lunches, they were on top of each other. Both taking full advantage of the only space where they could show any sort of physical affection.

After one particular heated moment together, the girls had to cool down before going to class. Emma held Alyssa in her arms as Alyssa finished up reading “A Tale of Two Cities” for Lit. There was something immensely satisfying about Alyssa’s bodyweight against her. Emma tried to distract Alyssa by pressing kisses into her neck, but the most she would get back was a soft kiss on the lips. It was moments like these that made Emma hopeful about a future with Alyssa where she could one day hold her somewhere outside the band closet.

The Tuesday before they were going to be let out for the semester, Alyssa stormed into the room holding a lunchbox that matched her backpack.

“Babe, wait until you see this shit.” She ripped open the lunchbox to show Emma Tupperware filled with celery and a cut-up apple. “My mother decided I needed to go on a diet to be able to fit into the dress that she bought for me for Christmas service and she’s been packing me only this ‘negative calorie’ bullshit! Plus she had the audacity to empty my lunch account saying I ‘didn’t need to have it because I brought my lunch every day.’” All the words ran together as the brunette spoke.

“Alyssa, baby, breathe. No matter what you mom says, you’re perfect-” Emma consoled her, digging into her backpack and pulling out a peanut butter and jelly. “And you can always share my lunch.”

“Emma Nolan, you are an angel. You know that right?” Alyssa pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. “But how am I ever going to be able to finish my ‘hearty snack’ of six almonds?”

Both girls laughed as Emma split her sandwich, trying to remember what she was going to say before Alyssa came into the closet.

“What are you doing Thursday night?” She asked.

“Nothing that I can think of, why?” Talking around a bite of her half of the sandwich.

“Because, I was wondering if you wanted to go out on a date with me. Don’t worry! I know somewhere we can go where no one will see us.” Emma quickly added the last sentence before she got shut down by Alyssa’s fear of getting found out.

“Can I ask where we are going?”

“Nope! Just be ready at 6 Thursday night! I can pick you up around the corner of your house.” Emma smiled, already planning out the logistics.

“Wait, I thought you worked at the drive-in on Thursdays?” Alyssa’s head slightly cocked to the side as she tried to work it all out.

“It’s a surprise babe, don’t think about it too much,” Emma said as she leaned in to kiss Alyssa.

— —

Emma: Hey I’m here.

Alyssa: Coming! Just had to tell Mom I was going to the movies with Kaylee and Shelby.  
— —

Alyssa walked around the corner, wrapped in a scarf and her peacoat to protect herself from the frigid December air. Emma’s had her truck's heater on full blast, helping Alyssa warm up after her quick walk outside. Holding Emma’s hand also definitely helped.

Emma had to focus on the road as to not crash the truck by looking at Alyssa’s hand in her own, fingers interlaced, as Alyssa’s thumb traced lazy patterns into the back of her hand. Emma brought their conjoined hands up to kiss the back of Alyssa’s hand — which was rewarded by a blush as Alyssa cuddled into Emma’s side.

They pulled up to the Edgewater Drive-In, but instead of going through the entrance, Emma maneuvered the truck behind the back of the lot to park behind the projector house.

A small, two-story building — the projector house —was where the projector would beam out of a window to show the movie on the big screen. Aside from the band closet and her bedroom, Emma spent the majority of her time in the upstairs projector room.

She lead Alyssa up to the small room with just the projector, radio transmitter and a couch. The room was glowing from battery-powered candles scattered around the room, and a heavenly, greasy aroma hit Alyssa. Then it dawned on her, Emma set all of this up for the two of them, even getting McDonalds before picking Alyssa up.

Not knowing what to say, Alyssa wrapped her arms around Emma’s neck and kissed her. She hoped that she would be able to communicate her gratitude because she was at a loss. No one had ever done anything this thoughtful for her before.

Alyssa snuggled into the couch and happily munched on fries as Emma buzzed around the room, setting everything up for the movies. Thursdays were horror movie double features, and this week they were showing yet another film about a possessed doll and the black and white “Dracula”. Alyssa wasn’t too excited for the scary movies, but she didn’t plan on actually watching — not when Emma would be next to her somewhere other than the band closet.

It took a couple minutes into the movie for Emma to sit down next to Alyssa, draping her arm around the back of the couch, occasionally brushing her fingertips against Alyssa’s shoulder. Alyssa’s legs were tucked to the side, and she nuzzled into Emma’s shoulder.

Emma’s entire body was buzzing. Wven though they had sone a lot more than cuddle for the past few weeks, there was something intoxicating about having Alyssa so close. She looked down at Alyssa, who gazed back up, the “candle” light was enough so that Emma could see Alyssa’s pupils dilate as she pushed up to kiss Emma.

Emma cupped Alyssa’s face as she deepened the kiss. Both girls parting their lips to get a better angle. Alyssa was now sitting up with her legs underneath her, both hands starting to tangle and pull in Emma’s blonde hair. She pulled on Emma’s bottom lip, who let out a breathy whimper from the back of her throat, sending electricity throughout Alyssa’s entire body.

The hand that was originally draped around the back of the couch found purchase on Alyssa’s waist, pulling her in closer. Alyssa decided to up the ante and swung a leg over Emma’s so that she was straddling her.

There was a slight reprieve of the furious onslaught of kisses that were heating up with every second, for the girls to take a breath and laugh at the situation, both finally feeling like regular, horny teenagers.

“Emma Nolan,” Alyssa looked into Emma’s eyes as if she was searching for something. “I know this is our first date, but we’ve been seeing each other for a hot minute now. Will you be my girlfriend?”

Emma’s eyes glittered behind her fogged glasses. “Alyssa Greene, why the hell do you think I asked you on this date? Of course.”

Alyssa leaned forward. Emma tilted her head up to get ready for another kiss, only to feel Alyssa press a kiss to her forehead. Then Alyssa swooped down to recapture Emma’s lips.

Something was off though. The room was quiet. Emma didn’t think anything of it at first, relishing in soft noises that she was eliciting from the girl on top of her. Then it hit her — she was at work. She had to change movie reels.

“Fuck!” Emma stood up, getting ready to get everything ready for the next movie. Almost falling over when she felt Alyssa wrap her legs around her waist, clinging to her.

Alyssa eventually got the hint that Emma was trying to do her job, not carry her to another spot to continue their make out session. She unwrapped her legs from her girlfriend’s waist and her hands from behind her neck and cleared her throat in embarrassment, thankful that the room was dark enough to hide the pink tingeing her cheeks.

Alyssa sat on the back of the couch, happily watching Emma rush around the room from her perch. She smiled to herself, holding her hand to her lips, feeling the leftover electricity that buzzed through them after her (many) kisses with Emma.

She must’ve been in her own little world because she didn’t see Emma coming at her to tackle her in a big hug, throwing the two back onto the couch. Alyssa held back a surprised shriek to the best of her ability because the last thing she wanted was to get caught.

They stayed like that for a while. Alyssa enjoyed the pleasant weight of Emma laying on top of her — something that made her stomach flip when her brain automatically went to thinking about in other, less dressed, situations. Instead of succumbing to Emma’s kisses, Alyssa hugged her girlfriend to her chest, taking full advantage of their first chance to properly cuddle. One hand was rubbing light circles into Emma’s scalp and the other tracing nonsensical patterns onto her back.

Emma was melting into Alyssa’s arms. She could hear the soft beating of Alyssa’s heart and was relaxed to an extent that she had not felt in a very long time. Until Alyssa hit a section of her back.

Emma tried to hold in her wince from the sharp pain, but there’s only so much you can hide laying on someone’s chest.

“Baby? What’s wrong?” Alyssa began to sit up.

“Can we not talk about it right now? Please?” Emma asked as she began to bury her head into Alyssa’s sweater.

Alyssa leaned Emma’s head up just enough so that they were making eye contact. She could see the hurt that was in Emma’s eyes, and instead of pushing the question like she wanted to, Alyssa sighed.

“Yeah, of course,” She said. “Em, you can tell me anything. I don’t ever want to pressure you into anything, and that includes telling me some stuff, but I am always here for you.” She pressed a soft kiss to Emma’s hairline, letting the girl snuggle back into her neck.

The movie ended with the two of them in that position. Alyssa making sure to avoid the spot on Emma’s back and letting herself be genuinely happy for the first time in a long time.

“Alyssa,” Emma mumbled into her girlfriend’s neck. “Babe, we have to get you home before you mom reports you missing.”

“I don’t wanna,” Alyssa jutted out her bottom lip.

“Babe—” kiss. “We—” kiss. “Have to—” kiss. “Go—” the final kiss lasting longer than the others.

“But— but, we don’t have school for the next week and a half. What am I going to do without our band closet time? I think I am going to go into Emma withdrawal.” Alyssa laughed while starting to sit up and fix her mussed hair.

“I know, I would say we could meet here, but I would get fired if my boss knew I had anyone up here. He’s out of town this week, so we could swing it, but I don’t know when that’s going to happen again.”

“Ugh. Fine, I guess I can deal with texts and calls then. But if my mother goes insane, I may need my knight-in-shining-pickup.”

Emma laughed, “well that I can definitely do. Come on, let’s get you home.”

The two enjoyed the comfortable silence that had fallen between them. Emma’s arm rested on Alyssa’s shoulders as she drove. Alyssa snuggled into Emma’s side as the two interlaced their fingers by Alyssa’s shoulder.

The truck pulled up around the corner of Alyssa’s house and she gave a quick peck to Emma’s cheek before leaving the car and running towards her door to make it in a minute before her curfew.

— —  
Alyssa: I’m inside. Thank you for such an amazing night Emma.

Emma: Sweet dreams Alyssa Greene. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

— —

Alyssa could hear the purr of Emma’s truck driving away from the house as she fell onto her bed, smiling and touching her bottom lip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So The Prom is closing on Broadway and I am hella emo about it. If anyone has a bootleg, this girl definitely won't say no. 
> 
> Anyways, I hoped y'all liked this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma and Alyssa would sneak out of their houses whenever they could to see each other over the break, but Christmas made it hard. Mrs. Greene loved Christmas, so she and Alyssa spent it at church before heading to Shelby’s family’s annual Christmas party. 
> 
> Alyssa fiddled with her cup of punch, smiling at jokes and giving her pre-rehearsed answers for how school was going and if she was excited for the next semester. Something was off, Alyssa just couldn’t put her finger on it yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so TW: abuse and homophobia.  
> Sorry y'all but this had to happen.

Alyssa: Merry Christmas Babe. Wish I could celebrate with you. 

Emma: Merry Christmas. 

— —

Emma and Alyssa would sneak out of their houses whenever they could to see each other over the break, but Christmas made it hard. Mrs. Greene loved Christmas, so she and Alyssa spent it at church before heading to Shelby’s family’s annual Christmas party. 

Alyssa fiddled with her cup of punch, smiling at jokes and giving her pre-rehearsed answers for how school was going and if she was excited for the next semester. Something was off, Alyssa just couldn’t put her finger on it yet. 

Her phone buzzed in her hand and she could tell something was wrong. Emma knew she was going to be around her mom tonight, so this had to be big. Alyssa, as calm and collected as possible, excused herself to the bathroom and slid her thumb across the screen, whispering to her girlfriend. 

“Hey babe what’s up?”

Silence. 

“Em?” 

This time she heard a small sniffle. 

“Emma, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

This time she could hear Emma’s ragged breath. 

“Baby, just breathe, do you need me to come get you? Are you safe?” 

“Lys. They kicked me out. I told them I was gay and they kicked me out.” 

“Emma. Honey I am so sorry. You don’t deserve this. Where are you?” 

“I’m at Grandma’s house, she’s letting me stay with her. Alyssa, I don’t know what to do.”

“Em, just stay there, your Grandma is going to keep you safe. I am going to try my hardest to get to you. Can you send me your location?” 

She could hear Emma’s breathing slowing. 1969 Rosewood drive. It was a little out of town, which meant that Emma’s Grandma must’ve owned a farm. Alyssa quickly came up with a plan.

“Baby, I am going to be right there, okay?” 

“Okay.” 

“Just keep breathing Em, I’ll be there soon.” 

Emma ended the call and Alyssa rushed out of the bathroom. She found her mom enjoying her 6th glass of red wine, and was edging blackout levels of drunkenness. Alyssa pulled her mom to the side—

“Mom, I don’t feel well. Can we go home?” 

“Alyssa, I don’t think I can drive home, plus Mr. Hayworth and I have to talk about a deal for some clients,” Mrs. Greene slurred, trying to get the sentence out. 

“Mom, the Messner’s said you can stay here tonight if you need to. I really don’t feel good, I just want to go home and sleep.” Alyssa’s palms started to sweat as she thought about Emma at her Grandma’s, she needed to be there with her. 

“Alyssa, you are my superstar. Get home safe. Text me when you’re home. Mrs. Messner can drop me off tomorrow, I love you.” Mrs. Greene handed Alyssa the car keys and then turned towards the kitchen to pour herself another glass of wine. 

“Love you too.” 

Alyssa had to stop herself from running to the car. She quickly put the address in her phone’s map and sped off to help her girlfriend.  
— —

Emma was sitting on her bed in her room at her grandma’s house. Her eyes stung and her head was throbbing. Everything hurt. This was not the Christmas she had in mind. 

Betsy Nolan didn’t know what to do for her granddaughter except be there. She held her while she cried and had already unpacked the bag that Emma had hastily packed. Betsy was scouring the freezer for an ice pack or a bag of frozen peas to try to keep the black eye forming on her granddaughter at bay when heard sharp knocks at the front door. 

Betsy swung the door open, prepared to see her son and daughter-in-law, but instead found a teenager in a party dress and mascara running down her face. 

“Hi Mrs. Nolan, I’m Alyssa Greene, is Emma here?” Alyssa glanced over Mrs. Nolan’s shoulder to see if Emma was in the living room of the farmhouse. 

“Ah — I see. You can call me Betsy, Alyssa,” she said. “You must be the girlfriend.”

Alyssa’s eyes got big and her heart started to race. No one knew about her and Emma. How did Mrs. Nola— Betsy — figure them out so fast?

“Honey, I’m not gunna bite, come on in. Emma is upstairs.” She added in a lower voice, “I want you to be ready for what you’re going to see because you’re not going to like it. That fucking bastard I have for a son — he, he hurt her.” 

Something inside of Alyssa broke when she saw Emma. She didn’t know what to do or what to say to her girlfriend; all she could do was hold Emma’s shaking hands and take in the bruises and cuts on her face. 

A diamond shaped cut had just clotted on Emma’s forehead. Her eyelid was already turning purple with twinges of yellow and green surrounded the darker colors. Her bottom lip was cracked and bleeding. Bruises were forming where her glasses would sit on the bridge of her nose. 

This wasn’t her Emma — this was the husk of her. 

Betsy slowly walked into the room with a bag of frozen peas and the first aid kit. Emma wouldn’t let her clean the cuts, but maybe she’d let Alyssa do it. Thankfully, Alyssa understood what was happening when Betsy set the first aid kit at the foot of the bed and walked out of the room saying something about needing to make dinner. 

“Em, can I clean these up a bit?” Alyssa’s hand gently reached for Emma’s face, like she was scared that one wrong move would shatter her girlfriend into a million pieces. Emma took a shaky breath and nodded. 

Emma winced as Alyssa dabbed at the cut on her head with disinfectant. 

“They found the gift I got you for Christmas and lost it. She threw a picture frame at me. It was from when we went hiking in Wyoming that one summer,” Emma mumbled. “Alyssa, they told me to never come back. They hate me.”

“Baby,” Alyssa pressed a kiss to the top of the blonde’s head. “I am so sorry.” 

“Can I sleep?” Emma asked in a small voice. It was like Emma became 6 again, she felt the need to ask permission to do the simplest things like cry or sleep. “Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?” 

“Of course Em. Let’s get you ready for bed.” She stood up, going through the sparse drawers looking for PJs for Emma. She eventually found an old t-shirt and sweats and handed them to her girlfriend and looked at the floor while she changed. As Emma pulled the shirt over her back, Alyssa could see fading bruises. 

It was all too much for Alyssa. The fact that someone could do this to their child made her sick to her stomach, but all she could focus on was her overwhelming need to make it all better. 

Emma began to lay down on the bed and Alyssa followed suit, cradling her girlfriend in her arms, trying not to hold her too tight. 

Emma mumbled something as she drifted to sleep. Alyssa barely managed to hear it—

“I love you.” Emma fell asleep clutching the collar of Alyssa’s dress. 

Alyssa’s eyes began to fill with tears. This wasn’t how she was planning on saying it, but—

“I love you too Emma Nolan.” 

— —

Alyssa didn’t make it back home until 3 a.m. that night. She was emotionally exhausted and was grateful that her mother wasn’t home to reprimand her for lying and coming back home way past curfew. 

Alyssa didn’t wake up until noon the next day. She didn’t know what to do. Text Emma? Call Emma? Make up an excuse to go back to Betsy’s house?

Deciding that it would be best to give Emma some space, Alyssa left a voicemail when Emma didn’t answer the phone,. 

— — 

Like the band closet, Alyssa became a regular in Betsy Nolan’s house. Alyssa spent every second she could with Emma the week between Christmas and New Year’s, Holding her, taking care of her, trying to show just how much she loved her. 

By New Year’s Eve, Emma was back to — well as normal as she could be considering the circumstances. 

Alyssa made up an excuse at the expense of her overbearing mom to Shelby and Kaylee so she could skip their New Year’s Bash. She told her mom that she was going to the party. She felt bad lying to everyone, but all she wanted to do was to welcome in the new year with Emma. 

Betsy passed the sparkling cider and they toasted to new beginnings. The girls shared a soft kiss when midnight hit.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The spring semester of their junior year went by quickly. Alyssa and Emma’s time in the band closet was spent getting to know each other any way they could. Conversations would get deeper and deeper, both girls sharing things that they had never told anyone else. Their kisses were also intensifying at the same rate; both pairs of hands starting to explore more and more.

The spring semester of their junior year went by quickly. Alyssa and Emma’s time in the band closet was spent getting to know each other any way they could. Conversations would get deeper and deeper, both girls sharing things that they had never told anyone else. Their kisses were also intensifying at the same rate; both pairs of hands starting to explore more and more, and clothes began to be pushed and pulled out of the way. 

Alyssa was getting accustomed to being pinned up against the door the minute she stepped inside the tiny room, and Emma couldn’t sit on the crates of sheet music without eventually being straddled by her girlfriend. Their time in the band closet was spent enjoying each other’s company and shutting out the outside world.

Word spread around the school that Emma’s parents kicked her out, and Emma couldn’t even try and deny to the school that she was gay. Everyone knew, and (nearly) everyone treated her with scorn. Even teachers began to ice out Emma from class discussions; it broke Alyssa’s heart every time she would sneak a glance at her girlfriend just to see her disassociated in class. Alyssa was lucky she was so good at acting the part that her mother created for her, because seeing Emma hurting like this every day was enough to almost break Alyssa.

Emma’s grades were slipping thanks to the toxic school environment, and Alyssa refused to let James Madison High School’s rampant homophobia hurt Emma’s chance of going to a good college. By the time March rolled around, Alyssa would spend her time that would usually be dedicated to kissing Emma tutoring her girlfriend instead. Well, the kissing still happened, but it was now used as a reward for correct math answers or insightful discussion about the metaphors of childhood in “To Kill A Mockingbird”. 

Mr. Hawkins took notice of Emma’s situation, and would check in with her twice a week after school. It was nice to have someone in a position of power on Emma's side. Mr. Hawkins clearly read a Wiki-How article about how to talk to someone who’s LGBT+ but, it was better than nothing.

Mrs. Greene was being more protective of her superstar than ever before; Alyssa couldn’t tell if it was because of Emma’s confirmed rainbow presence at school, or that college applications for early acceptance were looming. 

The entirety of Alyssa’s spring break was spent writing and rewriting her resume and getting list on list of to-do’s for her college applications. Emma’s was spent doing hard labor around her grandma’s farm; by the end of the break, the two girls were ready to be reunited in their band closet. 

One April day, Alyssa and Emma were getting ready for a history test later that day. Emma was being held by Alyssa while she was going over flashcards for the two of them to study. They made a game out of it: the first one to correctly answer the flashcard would get a M&M. Alyssa was a competitive person, but add candy and she was ruthless. On the other hand, Emma really loved M&Ms, so there was no way she was going to let her girlfriend get all the snacks. 

They were giggly and happy, Emma leaned back to kiss Alyssa’s cheek and Alyssa held her tighter. Then the door opened. 

Alyssa’s face drained of color and Emma’s heart stopped. Neither girl could quickly come up with an excuse as to why Emma was in Alyssa’s lap. Emma made eye contact with a surprised Mr. Flynn. 

“Mr. Flynn! Uh we can explain,” Emma blurted out, standing up to give some room between her and Alyssa. Alyssa was shell shocked, trying to formulate words. Mr. Flynn closed the door behind him, stepping into the room. 

“Emma, Alyssa, it’s okay. I know that school has been bad lately and you both can still stay here. No one is going to know, okay?” Mr. Flynn’s eyes softened from the original look of surprise to one of sincerity. “Just, please clean up after yourselves, I don’t want roaches because y’all eat lunch here and leave crumbs.” 

Mr. Flynn grabbed a box of sheet music and walked out of the room. 

“Holy shit. Holy shit.” Alyssa was hyperventilating. Emma sat back down and rubbed Alyssa’s back, trying to calm her down. 

“Lys, it’s okay. Mr. Flynn is a good guy. He said no one will know, so he won’t say anything.” 

“Holy shit. I can’t be found out Em. I don’t know what my mother would do.” 

“I know baby.” 

“I have to go. I’ll text you.” Alyssa grabbed her stuff and bolted out of the closet. 

Emma sat there, brow furrowed, taking in everything that had just happened. Someone other than Betsy knew about her and Alyssa, and Emma could understand how this was a lot for Alyssa to deal with. But it sucked. The girls had talked about eventually coming out together, being able to hold hands in the halls, Alyssa not having to giggle and gently let guys down when they came up to hit on her. It was going to happen eventually, but they both agreed it needed to happen on Alyssa’s terms because she was the one with the most to lose. 

Emma swallowed the lump in her throat that was forming, thinking about how scared Alyssa was at this moment. 

— — 

Alyssa sped walked to the bathroom in the band hall. No one was ever in this part of school during lunch, but she still checked each stall to be safe. She locked the door to the biggest stall and tried to get a hold on herself. 

_Okay, so Mr. Flynn knows. Emma trusts him, so we should be okay. Oh God, Alyssa, get a grip. No one else is going to find out. You’re okay. Emma’s okay. It’s going to be okay. Everything will be alright._

It took a couple minutes to stop her hands from shaking and to let her heart rate slow down from its breakneck pace. 

Alyssa let herself out of the stall and checked herself in the mirror before heading to class. She walked into the classroom and made eye contact with Emma. The way that Emma’s eyes softened when they connected made the tension that Alyssa was holding in her shoulders begin to release.

— — 

Emma: Are you okay? 

Alyssa: I guess. I just wasn’t ready for that to happen. 

Emma: I get that. 

Alyssa: I want to come out on my terms, today was a little too close for comfort. We are lucky only Flynn found us. 

Emma: Yeah, we are. I get if you wanna cool down and stop seeing each other for a bit to throw off the scent. 

Alyssa: You’re an angel. You know that right? But I don’t want to give this up, even for a week. We just have to keep an ear out in the band closet from now on. 

Emma: Yes ma’am. So I’ll see you at lunch tomorrow? 

Alyssa: Wouldn’t miss it. 

— — 

Alyssa was more careful heading to the band closet the rest of the semester. There were only a couple of weeks left in school, and she didn’t know how much she would be able to see Emma over the summer, so she wanted to get the most out of their time together.

Emma wasn’t complaining at all because apparently this meant blistering kisses and Alyssa’s hands making their way up her torso or gradually unbuttoning the chambray shirts that Emma would wear. Emma would keep her hands on the small of Alyssa’s back or lower, but where Alyssa was treating every second like it was their last, Emma would take her time. She knew deep down that they would have a long time together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to give some fluff after the angst of last chapter. Lemme know if y'all like it!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alyssa liked kids, but this was a lot. She blew the errant piece of hair that had escaped her ponytail and was now dangling in front of her face while she was surrounded by screaming, excited children. 
> 
> Alyssa had been coming to Camp Moses since she was a kid, now that she’s almost 17 she was a counselor. It was a decent job, it paid well, it got her out of her mom’s house for the majority of the summer, and Alyssa liked working with kids— just kids a little older than the 6-year-old’s she was in charge of this summer. The only downside was that being in the middle of the woods at a church camp meant that she wasn’t able to see Emma, and the service there was spotty at best, so calling and texting was out of the question.

Alyssa liked kids, but this was a lot. She blew the errant piece of hair that had escaped her ponytail and was now dangling in front of her face while she was surrounded by screaming, excited children.

Alyssa had been coming to Camp Moses since she was a kid, now that she’s almost 17 she was a counselor. It was a decent job, it paid well, it got her out of her mom’s house for the majority of the summer, and Alyssa liked working with kids— just kids a little older than the 6-year-old’s she was in charge of this summer. The only downside was that being in the middle of the woods at a church camp meant that she wasn’t able to see Emma, and the service there was spotty at best, so calling and texting was out of the question.

When Alyssa told Emma that she was going to camp one last year, Emma was excited for her girlfriend. She knew that this camp is important to Alyssa, even though she wasn’t excited to not have contact with her girlfriend.

— —

Alyssa was sitting in the mess hall, enjoying her morning coffee when the assistant director of the camp came up to her.

“Ms. Greene, it looks like you got some mail!”

“Oh! Thanks,” Alyssa wasn’t expecting any mail so early into the session, her mom would write to her at the end of the month. She was trying to piece together who the letter was from as she tore open the envelope.

 _Lys,_  
It’s crazy that you’ve been gone for only a week. I guess I didn’t realize how much I took for granted being able to hear your voice whenever. Gran has me taking care of the farm every day and I am exhausted, but it’s nice to be doing something to keep my mind off of how much I miss you.  
I miss you so much, I can’t wait until I get to see you again. Gran says hi.  
All my love,  
E

It was hard for Alyssa to hide her smile the rest of the day. She kept checking her watch every five minutes for free-time so she could write back to Emma. The second everyone finished dinner, Alyssa bolted to her cabin.

She had to share with three other counselors, which was okay, but Alyssa cherished her time alone— it was the only time she could drop the “perfect Alyssa Greene” act and be herself. Alyssa grabbed a pen and her notebook and decided to take a hike so she could write to Emma in private.

 _Em,_  
I miss you so much. Camp is fun, but the kids are super crazy and I would give absolutely anything for one of your backrubs. I can’t wait to see you, I just wish we could see each other sooner.  
Please write as often as you can, and give Betsy my love.  
I love you so much,  
Alyssa

— —

Emma was going out of her mind.

She loved Gran and loved the farm, but the amount of work she was doing was insane. Gran decided that they were both going to work as hard as possible so they could maintain the farm with only the two of them. She didn’t tell Emma that she was taking all the money that they were saving by not hiring any outside workers and investing it into a college savings account.

Every day, while Emma cleared brush and weeded the flower gardens, she thought of Alyssa. It sucked not being able to see her, or talk to her, or hold her, or kiss her— the letters were nice, but it was far from the real thing. Plus, it didn’t help that Alyssa’s birthday was only a couple of weeks away which had Emma was racking her brain on what to get her.

A couple more weeds went into the bag for the compost pile and it hit her. Emma rushed through the rest of her chores so she could write a quick letter to Alyssa before the mail person came.

— —

Alyssa never thought that would blushing at letters and collecting the pressed flowers that her girlfriend would send to her every week. The only issue was that other counselors, especially her bunk mates were noticing Alyssa’s dopey grin when she read her mail.

Kristi, the girl who slept in the bed over Alyssa’s, one day snatched a letter out of the brunette’s hand, and read as much as she could before Alyssa got it back.

“Oooooh, Alyssa Greene! Who is E and why is he sending you all these letters? And flowers?” Kristi teased. Alyssa was grateful that Emma had the foresight to sign with just her initial. “Lyssa, you gotta spill all the tea right now!”

“Okay fine! But this is just between us, okay?”

“Deal!” Kristi squealed and dragged Alyssa out of the mess hall to a quieter spot on the edge of the woods.

“His name is Evan,” Alyssa lied, she was thankful for all the practice she had gotten lying to her mother, because this would have been incredibly difficult without the experience. “We’ve been dating for nine months now and no one knows. We want to keep it a secret just to keep everyone out of our business.”

“Wait, that’s so cute! Tell me about him!”

“Uh— well, he plays guitar and sings really well and—” Alyssa started to get a little lost, thinking about her girlfriend, excited that she could tell someone about her even if she couldn’t be completely open. “He’s the smartest, kindest and most genuine person I’ve ever met.”

“And how’s the sex?” Kristi was on the edge of her seat, trying to get as much information out of Alyssa as she could.

“Oh! Uh, yeah we haven’t done that yet…” Alyssa started turning red out of shock and the flutter in her stomach at the thought of being with Emma like _that_.

“Well that’s no biggie! I’m happy he makes you happy Lyssa.”

“Yeah, he really does.” Alyssa smiled.

Seemingly satisfied with Alyssa’s answers, Kristi skipped off, leaving Alyssa to be able to actually read the letter from Emma.

 _Lys,_  
This is going to sound crazy, but I am going to need you to meet me at the entry gate of your camp at 10 p.m. on July 17th. I have a surprise for you for your birthday. I can’t wait to see you.  
Love,  
E

A pressed rose fell out of the envelope.

— —

Alyssa snuck out of her cabin at 9:45. The nervous and excited energy was buzzing through her— she was going to see Emma.

Alyssa saw Emma’s truck down the road, stopped a bit before the gate, presumably to stay out of eyesight of the director’s cabin. Alyssa ran to the truck, ready to see the girl who was leaned up against the front of the truck. When she reached Emma, Alyssa jumped into her open arms and wrapped her legs around her torso, burying her face into her girlfriend’s neck.

“I missed you,” she mumbled into Emma’s neck before linking her fingers together on the back of her neck and kissing her. Emma instinctually held up Alyssa with her hands on the back of her thighs.

“I missed you too.” Emma whispered after their lips separated, pressing her forehead into Alyssa’s. Both girls blushed when they became very aware of their position and proximity. Alyssa dropped down and walked to the passenger’s door, followed by Emma who opened the door for her.

The truck pulled away with the two girls holding hands while Alyssa babbled on about camp, Emma listening happily.

— —

They pulled up to a campsite, Emma kissed the back of Alyssa’s hand and left to open the door for her.

“Babe, what are we doing here?” Alyssa asked, looking around at the empty clearing in the woods.

“Well, I know your birthday is in a week, and I wanted to celebrate just the two of us. I don’t know, I thought it’d be fun to look at the stars.” Emma’s voice had that edge of uncertainty that melted Alyssa’s heart.

“Emma Nolan, you are the most romantic and thoughtful person in the world,” Alyssa said as she went to lace her fingers with Emma’s.

“I guess you just bring that out of me.” Emma pressed a kiss to Alyssa’s cheek before moving to the backseat of the truck, pulling out blankets and pillows and her backpack.

Alyssa laid out the blanket and set up the pillows while Emma started a fire in the fire-pit. Once the fire was started, Emma joined Alyssa, laying back on the pillows. Alyssa cuddled into Emma, but something felt different.

“Babe, have you been working out? You feel more muscle-y. Not that that’s a bad thing! I love your body no matter what but you just feel—” Alyssa’s babbling was cut off by a soft kiss.

“Gran has me working on the farm every day, so it’s a lot of manual labor,” Emma explained.

“Em, your grandma owns a flower farm. What kind of work are you doing that’s getting you ripped like this?”

“You have no idea,” Emma laughed, shaking her head. “She has me digging and pulling weeds, and then we are expanding the fields, so I’ve been clearing brush and stuff. Plus Gran doesn’t believe in riding lawn mowers so I’ve been pushing a lawn mower for 4 hours every other day.”

Alyssa snuggled back into her girlfriend, her head finding its place on Emma’s shoulder. Emma pressed a kiss onto Alyssa’s forehead before looking back up towards the stars.

“Em?” Alyssa rolled onto Emma so that they were face to face, noses almost touching.

“Hmmm?”

“You know I love you, right?” Alyssa asked in a small voice.

“You know that I love you, right?”

“Yeah,” Alyssa leaned in and kissed Emma, cupping her face with both hands. When she pulled away, her thumb traced Emma’s bottom lip; Alyssa still marveled that she got to be with someone as amazing as Emma. “Babe, I wanna come out.”

“I know you do Lys. I just don’t want you to have to face what I did. You honestly have a lot more to lose and I don’t want to see you hurt,” Emma said. “We both know how your mom is. But, it is one hundred percent your choice, and I am going to be by your side no matter what happens”

“I just wish it could happen all at once, you know? Just come out to everyone, if they don’t like it then I won’t be losing people one by one, they can just go and we can be open and happy.” Words were pouring out of Alyssa. Emma loved when this happened because it was something that no one else got to see from the champion debater. “There are so many things that happen senior year that I want to do with you. Like I wanna kiss you after the homecoming game. I wanna take cute pictures with you at graduation. I wanna dance with you at prom. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“Yeah, it does really nice, and we can always finesse the other things, prom is just what’s going to be hard.” Emma’s mind was racing as she tried to figure out the puzzle that the brunette had presented her with.

“What if, we just go together? Then everyone can know, and it’s not like they’d kick us out, right?” Alyssa wondered out loud.

“Alyssa, did you just ask me to prom?”

“Yeah, I think I did. Unless you don’t want to go to prom with me, or don’t want to go to prom. It’s okay if you say no. I completely get it-”

“Lys, I’d love to go to the prom with you babe.” Emma cut of Alyssa before she gave herself an aneurysm.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“It’s a plan then! I am going to come out at prom and we can dance the night away and be like normal kids.” Alyssa said, giddy at the thought of not having to hide the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Taking advantage of the position she found herself in, on top of Emma, Alyssa kissed her. She tried to express just how much she missed the blonde in the kiss, and the way that Emma gasped when she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth told Alyssa that she had done a good job.

They stayed like that for a while. Emma’s hands found themselves in Alyssa’s back pockets, and Alyssa left some very noticeable hickeys on Emma’s neck and collar bone. Needless to say, they weren’t doing much stargazing.

— —

The rest of the summer went by in a flash, and Alyssa was ready to go home and go back to school in September. Her mother was already stressing her out with an ever-growing list of things to do for her college applications, but Alyssa was excited to enjoy her senior year, even if she couldn’t do it with Emma by her side — yet.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fall semester came much to the relief of Emma and Alyssa. There was something about having their schedules back to normal and being able to see each other on a daily basis that was comforting. 
> 
> Mr. Hawkins called both girls into his office during their study hall, which had Emma’s palms sweaty and Alyssa’s heart racing at the fear of being caught using school property for their secret rendezvous. Mr. Hawkins’s wide smile didn’t quell their fears as they sat down.

The fall semester came much to the relief of Emma and Alyssa. There was something about having their schedules back to normal and being able to see each other on a daily basis that was comforting.

Mr. Hawkins called both girls into his office during their study hall, which had Emma’s palms sweaty and Alyssa’s heart racing at the fear of being caught using school property for their secret rendezvous. Mr. Hawkins’s wide smile didn’t quell their fears as they sat down.

“Alyssa, Emma,” Mr. Hawkins said. “I have been doing some research and watching some TedTalks about the dangers of academic competition. As my two best students, I wanted to see if you two would be okay with a little experiment.”

Alyssa and Emma shared a confused look.

“I was thinking: what if, instead of having you both being paired with students who will use your academic gifts to get out of doing work, and taking away the competition of project grades, you’d paired together on all group work for the semester? Just to try it out.”

Emma’s right eyebrow quirked up and Alyssa tried to hide a smile.

“Mr. Hawkins, I am more than happy to try!” Alyssa beamed. “Honestly, it’d be nice being able to work with Emma and not against her for once.”

“Yeah, I would be down.” Emma said, looking at her girlfriend trying to hide her astonishment at their luck.

“Fantastic! I will let your teachers know that you are a pair until December!” Mr. Hawkins said, looking very pleased with himself.

— —

The girls walked out of the office in silence until they reached Alyssa’s locker where she started grabbing books.

“So, that went better than I could have ever imagined.” Alyssa said, packing her books into her bag.

“Yeah, definitely not what I was expecting.” Emma said. “So I guess I’ll see you in Calc, partner.” Emma left a blushing Alyssa with a wink.

— —

Shelby and Kaylee were the only ones who really noticed Alyssa and Emma’s constant pairing for projects.

“Tough luck Lyssa,” Shelby whispered during history a month into the semester.

“What are you talking about?” Alyssa mumbled.

“You’re stuck with the lesbo on like every project.” Kaylee leaned forward in her seat to join the conversation. “You gotta be careful she doesn’t try and make you gay.”

Alyssa felt a white-hot flash of anger flash through her body.

“Emma is actually pretty nice, plus it’s nice to have a partner who pulls their weight. Plus gay people are just trying to live their lives, they’re not going around trying to turn people gay. People don’t just turn gay Kaylee.” Alyssa said through gritted teeth, clenching her pencil in her hand while trying to not be visibly bothered.

“Jeez Lyssa, we just want you to be safe from a freak like her. You’ve heard what Pastor Jeb says in church about those people.” Shelby said, leaning back in her chair to end the conversation.

Once lunch hit Alyssa barged into the band closet, surprising Emma who was strumming away on her guitar. Emma put down the guitar and gathered her shaking girlfriend in her arms. She had seen Alyssa angry, but this was a completely new level of rage than she had ever dealt with.

“Lys, baby, what’s wrong?” She asked, face buried in Alyssa’s hair, holding her as tight as she could.

“They just don’t get it Em.” Alyssa cried into Emma’s shoulder. “They don’t see you the way I do. They don’t and they hate you for something you ca— we can’t control. They think that you’re going to be some sort of predatory lesbian and ‘ruin’ me. They don’t get that you’re the kindest, sweetest, most romantic, beautiful person in all of this fucking town and I’m just tired of it.”

“Hey, it’s okay. Maybe they’ll learn one day,” Emma said as she rubbed small circles into Alyssa’s back to try and calm the girl’s sobs. “I know they’re your best friends — you never know, they may realize how much they’re hurting you right now and feel horrible and decide to learn and change, but we just gotta give them time and not waste let them get to us.”

“How are you so smart?” Alyssa looked up to her girlfriend, wiping her tears and trying to rub out the smear of makeup she got on Emma’s jacket.

“Could be my super-smart and super-hot girlfriend.” Emma said with one of the half smiles that she has when she flirts.

The line payed off and Alyssa laughed, pulling Emma down a couple inches by the front of her jacket to give her a kiss, Which was immediately deepened by Emma. Alyssa walked them forwards until she pinned Emma against the wall, using the position to her advantage and trailing her hands down Emma’s sides which was met with a shiver. She slowly dragged her fingers up Emma’s torso, underneath her shirt, just barely going under the elastic of Emma’s sports bra. The blonde stopped kissing Alyssa to be able to focus on her breathing as to not hyperventilate and die on the spot, and Alyssa took this as an opportunity to start pressing open mouthed kisses along Emma’s jugular.

Right before Alyssa’s fingers got too high up Emma’s chest, she withdrew her hands from her shirt and stepped away a couple of feet to sit on the ground and dig through her backpack. Emma whimpered at the loss of contact, and followed her girlfriend, curiously sitting on the ground next to her — only to be handed their history text book by Alyssa.

“Em, we have to pick what this project is going to be about. I don’t want to do something basic, but honestly whose idea was it to give us the choice to cover any historical figure in American history? That’s stupidly broad.” Alyssa was now focused on the google search she had on her phone as she scrolled through important names and faces.

Emma had to take a second to adjust to the complete 180-degree focus change that her girlfriend just exhibited while she tried to calm down the adrenaline in her body from their heated make out.

“What if we do some badass lady? Like Rosa Parks or Eleanor Roosevelt?” Emma offered the ideas off the top of her head.

“Wait, wasn’t Eleanor Roosevelt bi?” Alyssa asked, her head shot up at the name of the first lady.

  
“Maybe, I think she wrote all these letters back and forth with some female reporter, so she definitely could have been.”

“Let’s do it! Are you down to learn more about a dead, first lady?”

“I guess I am!” Emma laughed, taking in the excitement in Alyssa’s big brown eyes as she started to flip through the book in Emma’s hands. Emma just watched her, smitten, with a dopey smile on her face.

— —

The upcoming Homecoming game and dance was setting the school abuzz. The cheer team was planning a special halftime show with the band before the homecoming court was announced, this meant extra hours for both Alyssa and Emma after school thanks to practices.

Emma would sit in the bleachers and watch while handing folders filled with marching formations to Mr. Flynn, becoming more of an emotional support for the teacher than the equipment manager for the band. Alyssa was hyper focused on the new stunts that the team was going to be trying, but would always make sure to flash a smile at Emma in the stands.

Emma would drive Alyssa to the Nolan farm so they could get their never-ending list of projects done and would drive her home just in time for dinner. It wasn’t much, but it gave the girls some sort of normalcy that they both clung to with all they had.

——

A little under a month away from the Homecoming game, Alyssa had to stay late with the squad while they tried to perfect one of their harder tumbling passes. Emma half-watched over her book on Eleanor Roosevelt. Emma was the first person to admit she knew nothing about cheer, but she could tell that Alyssa landed wrong. Before she could even register Alyssa’s scream of pain, Emma jumped the retaining wall separating the field from the bleachers and was hauling ass to get to her girlfriend.

Alyssa’s entire body flooded with pain. The rest of the squad was in full-on panic mode, it wasn’t until Emma was on her knees by Alyssa’s side that anyone thought to actually check if she was okay.

“Lys, we gotta get you to the hospital,” Emma said, hazel eyes filled with worry.

“Emma, I can’t walk. It hurts really really bad.” Alyssa said through gritted teeth, trying not to cry.

“Okay, I’m going to try and carry you, is that okay?”

Alyssa nodded, eyes squeezed shut.

Emma took a breath and gently scooped the shaking brunette in her arms before looking back to the squad.

“Shelby, grab my backpack on the bleachers, my keys are in there and we gotta get her to a doctor fast.” Emma barked at the shocked cheerleaders. “Kaylee, can you get Alyssa’s bag? You guys can ride with us to the ER.”

The two sprung to action, sprinting across the field before Emma could finish her sentences. Alyssa buried her face into Emma’s neck, not wanting to let anyone see her cry.

Emma walked as fast as she could without jostling the girl in her arms. Kaylee and Shelby ran ahead, opening and starting Emma’s truck. Emma gently set Alyssa down in the front seat, laying her legs on the front bench, and Kaylee and Shelby jumped into the back, petting Alyssa’s hair and whispering soothing words.

Emma had never driven that fast in her life, but they safely made it to St. John’s emergency wing.

Shelby jumped out of the moving car to get a wheelchair from the entrance. Kaylee was busy on the phone with Mrs. Greene as Emma picked up a pale Alyssa to put her into the wheelchair. The girls got Alyssa checked into the ER and by the time Mrs. Greene came bursting through the doors of the waiting room, Alyssa was being moved to an examination room.

Emma finished sending a quick text to Betsy to let her know what happened. When she looked up from her seat in the corner of the room, she made eye contact with a flustered Mrs. Greene. To her surprise, Mrs. Greene’s normal look of discontent that she would give Emma melted to gratitude.

“The girls told me that you’re the one who jumped into action and drove my superstar here,” she said, moving to Alyssa on the bed to hold her hand.

“Yes ma’am,” Emma said.

“Well, thank you Emma.” Mrs. Greene said. “I am glad someone took care of my Alyssa. You can head on home now, I’ll make sure Alyssa lets you know what the doctors tell us.”

Emma opened her mouth, trying to figure out how to tell Mrs. Greene that she wanted to stay; but she couldn’t form thoughts that wouldn’t tip everyone off in the room about the nature of her and Alyssa’s relationship.

Alyssa made eye contact with Emma and mouthed “thank you” to which Emma nodded in response as she left the room. Shelby followed Emma out.

“Emma, Kaylee and my’s stuff is in your truck.” She said before adding, “Thanks for being so fast to help Lyssa. I’m sorry for giving you so much shit lately.”

Emma didn’t know what to say, so the girls walked in silence to the parking lot. Shelby got the backpacks and waved a goodbye to Emma as she drove away.

Betsy left Emma alone after making sure that Alyssa was okay and getting some pasta into her granddaughter. Emma couldn’t focus. She was waiting on a call or text from Alyssa with bated breath, but she knew that she had to get at least some work done on her math homework so she could let Alyssa copy it during lunch.

— —  
The next morning Emma woke to a text from Alyssa.

Alyssa: It’s a bad sprain, I should be good in a week or two. Thank you for coming to my rescue babe. How will I ever repay my knight-in-shining-pickup?

Emma: Just don’t get hurt like that again please. You scared the shit out of me.

Alyssa: No promises, but I’ll try my best. Band closet?

Emma: I’ll see you there babe.

— —

The homecoming game came and went, Alyssa won Queen — to no one’s surprise — and Emma swelled with pride as she saw her girlfriend being crowned.

The dance was like any other for Alyssa. She smiled and mingled. She complimented dresses and danced with boys. Unlike the past school dances she had went to, this time Alyssa’s mind was on the one person who wasn’t there. It became abundantly clear how much she missed Emma when she was at Kevin’s afterparty, three mixed drinks in.

The room was spinning too fast for Alyssa’s liking. She didn’t realize she had called Emma until she was being escorted out of the house by a girl in a flannel and jeans. She remembered being in the truck, her head laying in Emma’s lap and then she was suddenly being tucked into bed.

She woke up looking at a glass of water and two Advil sitting on her side table. Mrs. Greene was already at church and left a note on Alyssa’s door letting her know she would be out all day thanks to meetings for the PTA and the church board.

Alyssa left a quick text of gratitude to Emma before falling back asleep to try and block out her throbbing headache.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the goal is to get the Broadway folks in here in a couple chapters. Anyways lemme know what y'all thought!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanksgiving came and went and Alyssa and Emma were gearing up for their one year anniversary. Emma put herself in charge of planning the day, much to Alyssa’s chagrin, but since Mrs. Greene was monitoring Alyssa’s computer history, planning would have been difficult. 
> 
> The big day rolled around and Emma had an entire game plan together for their anniversary. Alyssa was ready at 4:30 in the afternoon, more dressed up than she had ever been to spend time with Emma. Alyssa’s phone buzzed and she yelled to her mom that she was going to sleep over at Shelby’s that night. She ran outside with an empty bag to corroborate her lie to her mother, and jumped into the blue truck around the corner.

Thanksgiving came and went and Alyssa and Emma were gearing up for their one year anniversary. Emma put herself in charge of planning the day, much to Alyssa’s chagrin, but since Mrs. Greene was monitoring Alyssa’s computer history, planning would have been difficult. 

The big day rolled around and Emma had an entire game plan together for their anniversary. Alyssa was ready at 4:30 in the afternoon, more dressed up than she had ever been to spend time with Emma. Alyssa’s phone buzzed and she yelled to her mom that she was going to sleep over at Shelby’s that night. She ran outside with an empty bag to corroborate her lie to her mother, and jumped into the blue truck around the corner. 

Alyssa’s heart fluttered when she took in her girlfriend. Emma was wearing a white button down and a pair of black slacks, the matching blazer was lovingly laid out on the backseat. Emma’s eyes were sparkling behind her glasses and her mouth was curved into the little half-smile that Alyssa adored. Both girls leaned in for a quick kiss before the pulled away from the curb. 

“Lys, you look beautiful,” Emma said as her eyes flitted between the brunette and the road. She interlaced their fingers and lifted their conjoined hands to kiss the back of Alyssa’s hand. 

“Em, I’m not going to lie, you look hot,” Alyssa gave Emma another once over. “But, you still haven’t told me what we are doing tonight. I told my mom that I’d be out all night like you told me to. Is Betsy okay with me staying over? She doesn’t let us stay in your room with the door closed.” 

“Well, I got us a reservation at a restaurant a couple towns away,” Emma explained. Her half-smile growing to a full, heartwarming one. “And Gran is out of town this weekend for a farming convention in Indianapolis, so we have the house to ourselves.”

“Emma Nolan, does this mean we can finally…” Alyssa blushed, not able to finish her sentence.

Emma took advantage of the red light and looked into Alyssa’s eyes. “I don’t want to rush you into anything, we don’t have to even stay in my room. I am more than happy to sleep on the couch tonight, you can take my bed. But if you want to, I am more than okay with it.” 

“Em, you’re not sleeping on the couch. I want to do this. I’ve wanted to do this for a while now. I love you and I trust you completely.” Her thumb stroked the back of Emma’s hand. The thought of being able to finally be with Emma like this had her stomach doing backflips. 

Dinner was a new experience for the two girls. They held hands and enjoyed being in public with the other. No one in Clearwater knew who they were, and they took full advantage of their anonymity. 

— —

Alyssa pressed a kiss to Emma’s cheek as a thank you for the dinner as they sat in in a comfortable silence on the way back to the Nolan farm. The anticipation of being able to be truly alone somewhere other than the band closet and all that entailed was running through both of their minds.

It took every ounce of self-control that they had to not run up to Emma’s room. Alyssa couldn’t deny the strange gratification that she felt when she heard the door click shut behind them. Emma sat on her bed and looked at Alyssa sheepishly, her awkwardness stopping her from making the first move. 

Alyssa took a couple of steps until she was standing in front of Emma, she leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss that Emma instinctually deepened. Alyssa, wanting to be as close as possible to Emma, climbed up onto the bed, straddling her girlfriend. Slowly unbuttoning Emma’s shirt, leaving kisses on the skin that was being revealed. 

Alyssa smiled as she felt the zipper on the back of her dress inching its way down her back. She stood up and let it fall, a blush creeping onto her cheeks in response to Emma’s jaw dropping while she took in her half-naked girlfriend. Alyssa jumped back into the position they were just in, and both girls kissed each other like their lives depended on it. 

— —

Emma woke up first. The sun was just rising, gently filling the room with light. She looked down and her heart melted at the girl wearing one of her oversized t-shirts laying on her chest. The light was hitting Alyssa’s messy hair in a way that made it look like she had a halo. Emma took stock at everything that happened last night and smiled to herself. She was supposed to feel different, right? That’s what everyone says in all of her YA books; they feel different when they have sex for the first time. Emma didn’t feel different, per-say, she just felt right. Almost like all of the shit that was being thrown at her every single day of her life was worth it because of the girl asleep in her arms. 

Alyssa began to slowly wake up, taking comfort in the soft breathing and steady heartbeat of the girl underneath her. She began to stretch, reaching her arms out and letting her legs stretch to their whole length; Alyssa wasn’t expecting to be as sore as she was. She lifted her chin up off of Emma’s chest to meet her girlfriend’s eyes, heart fluttering when she saw nothing but love in them. 

“Good morning babe,” Emma said softly, running her fingers through her girlfriend’s curls. 

“Waking up in your bed is hands down one of the best things I’ve ever experienced.” Alyssa said, relaxing into the girl’s touch. “I wish we could do this every morning.” 

Emma pressed a kiss to the top of Alyssa’s head. “Me too.” 

“So what happened last night,” Alyssa smiled. “I am really glad that my first time was with you.” 

“Me too Lys,” Emma said. “And although this is the best and I am loving seeing you in my clothes, we gotta get you home before your mom goes to Shelby’s.”

Alyssa buried her head into Emma’s chest, gripping her t-shirt. “No, I don’t wanna.” 

It took a little convincing, but Emma was able to get Alyssa out of bed and into real clothes. They stopped and got donuts before Emma dropped Alyssa off around the corner of her house. They shared a quick kiss before Alyssa grabbed her bag from the back seat and ran into her house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped y'all liked it! Lemme know if you did! The Broadway group is coming in chapter 11, and I'm super super excited!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> School started up again in January. Alyssa was constantly wearing the necklace she got from Emma for Christmas. Emma got a rainbow guitar strap from Alyssa that was hanging proudly on her guitar. 
> 
> The spring semester meant that the prom committee was in full force, being led by Alyssa. Since the PTA and the committee had to work in tandem, a lot of base planning happened around the Greene’s dinner table. Alyssa had never seen her mother so passionate about anything before, and it quickly became Alyssa’s favorite time to spend with her mother.

School started up again in January. Alyssa was constantly wearing the necklace she got from Emma for Christmas. Emma got a rainbow guitar strap from Alyssa that was hanging proudly on her guitar. 

The spring semester meant that the prom committee was in full force, being led by Alyssa. Since the PTA and the committee had to work in tandem, a lot of base planning happened around the Greene’s dinner table. Alyssa had never seen her mother so passionate about anything before, and it quickly became Alyssa’s favorite time to spend with her mother.

— — 

Mr. Hawkins called Emma and Alyssa into his office, both girls entered calmer than they had last semester. 

“Emma, Alyssa. I have to say I am incredibly proud of the two of you. All of your teachers have been impressed with the quality of work that you both have been turning in, and so — if it’s okay with you — I want to keep your partnership going.” Mr. Hawkins eyes glimmered with pride and something else that neither girl could place. 

“Yeah, I’m down for round two,” Emma said, making eye contact with Alyssa. 

“Same.”

“Perfect! I’ll let your teachers know that it’s still going on,” Mr. Hawkins said. “Alyssa, I’ll see you after school today to go over preliminary budgets for prom, right?”

“Yes sir! I am looking forward to it,” Alyssa said brightly as she and Emma began to get up and leave the office. 

——

It was well known that James Madison High School wasn’t particularly wealthy. Edgewater had been hit with hard times, and so the school suffered along with the community. The theatre department had to be shut down so the school could afford to fix the football team’s bus, and all of the arts — except for band, thanks to its importance on game days — were on the cutting board every budget meeting. So it didn’t surprise any of the senior class when prom tickets went on sale early in February to cover the costs of the dance. 

Emma found herself getting swept up in the prom mania that was taking over the school. She and Alyssa agreed that they were going to go together, coming out to the entire school and Emma couldn’t be more excited. The anticipation of being able to dance with Alyssa in public clouded Emma’s better judgement, and Emma found herself putting down $80 on the table to buy both her and Alyssa’s tickets.

As she was walking away from the PTA member selling the tickets, Emma heard a voice and her stomach dropped. 

“Why does the lesbo need two tickets?” It was Kaylee’s voice cutting through the din of the cafeteria. “Who’s the poor girl she turned? Hey Emma! Who are you taking to the prom?” 

Emma quickly stuffed the tickets into her jacket pocket, keeping her head down. Her silence, instead of disengaging Kaylee, only egged the cheerleader on. 

“Emma! Who’s the poor girl you’re bringing to the prom?” She yelled. 

Emma gave a quick look to the mother working the ticket table who was furiously typing something into her phone. Emma steeled herself and turned around to face Kaylee. 

“I’m bringing my girlfriend,” Emma snapped through a gritted smile. “I really appreciate your interest in my love life Kaylee, but is fucking Nick every day getting so boring that you have to put your nose in my business?”

Kaylee stood there, mouth agape clearly trying to come up with a biting comeback, but before she could try and say anything, Emma sped walked to the band closet. 

Alyssa was there waiting for her, busy on her phone. She looked up when Emma came in, giving a worried look to her girlfriend. 

“Em, why did Kaylee just text me saying that she is going to ruin your life?” Alyssa’s voice had an edge of concern in it as she looked up at her girlfriend from her spot on the floor. 

“I may have thrown some shade,” Emma murmured. “But she was being a bitch about me buying our prom tickets and I just couldn’t take it.”

Alyssa stood up and gave Emma a gentle hand squeeze before wrapping her up into a big hug. They stood like that for a while, Alyssa whispering a quick “I love you” before separating herself from Emma. 

The two sat and ate their lunch while talking back and forth. Alyssa was reaching over to steal a chip from Emma’s lunch when her phone started buzzing. It was Mrs. Greene calling; Alyssa put a finger to her lips and answered the call. Emma watched Alyssa talk to her mother curiously. 

“Wait, Mom slow down please,” Alyssa said, brows meeting in concern. “What do you mean there may not be a prom?” 

Emma felt like she had swallowed bricks, there was no way that this was because she got tickets for her and Alyssa. It couldn’t be because of them. It had to be money or something. 

“Mom, you’re kidding me? That’s archaic, why can’t she bring whoever she wants?” Alyssa voice quieted. A look of genuine fear was passed between the pair. “Can we talk about this at dinner tonight? Please, we’ve worked so hard on this. Yeah. Okay. Love you too Mom.” 

Alyssa hung up the phone with a huff that turned into panicked breathing. Emma reached out to hold Alyssa’s hand who grasped it like it was the only thing anchoring her to this world. 

“Lys, they can’t cancel the prom. They can’t do it. The school won’t let them, neither will the students or parents.” Emma tried to talk some reason into Alyssa’s racing mind, but it was also Emma trying to convince herself the same thing. 

“Mom said she’s about to talk to a lawyer to see if they can stop you from coming Em,” Alyssa choked out the words before breaking down into tears. “We’re so stupid. Why would they let us go together? They’re going to cancel the entire thing if they can’t ban you. This is so fucked.” She added in a small voice between heaving sobs, “I just wanted to dance with you Emma and not give a shit about anyone else.” 

“I know,” Emma was holding Alyssa now, trying to keep her from slipping into a full panic attack. “We never know, it could still happen.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right,” Alyssa was visibly calming in Emma’s arms. 

“We are going to keep our heads down and this will play itself out. Okay?” Emma said, resting her chin on top of Alyssa’s head. “Just breathe Alyssa, it’s going to be okay.” 

— —

It wasn’t okay. 

— — 

The PTA cancelled the prom after Mrs. Greene spoke to multiple lawyers who guaranteed legal action would be taken if Emma and her mystery girlfriend were barred from attending. The Greene household was a minefield for Alyssa. There was very little that Alyssa could say without sending her mother on a rant about Emma or the prom. 

School was becoming an obstacle course from Hell for Emma. Shoulders would ram into her as she walked down the halls. Sitting anywhere meant having to dodge various things that were thrown at her. Drinks were poured on her, forcing her to have an extra outfit stashed in the band closet. However, the icing on the cake was the various rainbow Care Bears being hung by their necks that would appear in her locker. 

Mr. Hawkins checked in with Emma at least twice a day, and Betsy was at school as much as she could be, in meetings with Mr. Hawkins. While it was nice to have some allies, it was all becoming too much for Emma. She dreaded having to go to school, and the only time that she felt like she could breathe was when she was in the band closet with Alyssa. 

Alyssa didn’t know what to say to try and help Emma, but it was fine because Emma wasn’t really in a mood to talk. For the majority of their relationship, Alyssa always took the more assertive role when the two would get romantic, but ever since the prom got cancelled Emma was taking the lead. Alyssa was all about this, even if it meant that she had to check and then double check her disheveled hair, make up and clothes to look as innocent as possible when she left the band closet. 

The two were in the band closet, Emma’s hand up the front of Alyssa’s shirt, when the intercom buzzed with Mr. Hawkins’s voice. Alyssa was intently listening while Emma was busy pressing open mouthed kisses on her neck. 

“All seniors, please stay after school for a PTA meeting about the possibility of bringing back the prom. Your parents are welcome to attend as well.” Mr. Hawkins’s voice echoed down the hall and under the door of the band closet. 

The excitement of simply having a conversation about the possibility of the prom happening had Alyssa buzzing with excitement. Emma’s wandering hands on Alyssa’s torso definitely added to the excitement, but in a different way. Alyssa was going to get the chance to fight to come out at her prom and she couldn’t be happier. 

— — 

Any excitement about the meeting that Alyssa felt before was gone. Everyone was yelling and her mom was leading the charge, upholding the PTA’s stance on cancelling the prom. Alyssa snuck glances at Emma who was visibly deflated from being the center of attention. 

Mr. Hawkins was making some legitimate points that even the PTA was starting to consider about homophobia in the community when all hell broke loose. 

The double doors of the gym slammed open and everything erupted into chaos. Parents shielded their kids as three people with signs barged in and started chanting “Shame” at everyone. 

Emma couldn’t process everything going on around her, it wasn’t until a very flamboyant man was shaking her hand and promising to rescue her that she realized that these people were here for her. This wasn’t what Emma meant when she put a prayer out in the universe for more allies., but here they were. Some middle aged woman in far too much cheetah print was singing at the top of her lungs as an overzealous man played the cowbell. 

Emma didn’t have to look around at the town’s faces to know that they weren’t going to get the prom back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I say Broadway Pals in chapter 11? My bad, I got excited. Lemme know if y'all liked it!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything was a blur for Emma. There was yelling and dirty looks being thrown at her and then there was a group of middle aged actors singing and dancing and carrying picket signs — all of them there because of her.

Everything was a blur for Emma. There was yelling and dirty looks being thrown at her and then there was a group of middle aged actors singing and dancing and carrying picket signs — all of them there because of her. 

As the gym cleared out, students being pulled away by scandalized parents, Emma was left sitting on the bleachers, still in shock over everything that just went down. The more showy of the two men —Barry — came up to Emma and started to make conversation that she only half responded to. Alyssa had been herded out of the room by a seething Mrs. Greene, and Emma could only focus on the look of helplessness that was on her girlfriend’s face.

The tall blonde woman, who was more leg than human, rushed up to Emma and Barry, phone out. She was snapping photos of Emma before the teen could begin to react; having her picture taken by a stranger was one of the last things she wanted to happen today. Barry left her side to confront Natalie Mercer’s mom who said something about “deviant freaks” to her daughter.

Emma took his leave as an opportunity to try and see if she could find Alyssa before she was gone for the day. Emma wanted nothing more than to ease her girlfriend’s anxiety about the new additions to the fight for their right to party. She didn’t realize that the tall blonde woman — Angie — was following her, still snapping pictures. She had enough and turned around to face her. 

“Will you _please_ stop taking my picture!” Emma asked, trying to stand up for herself. 

“Emma, we need one for the rally! Just try and look as helpless as possible.” She said while still snapping pictures. 

“I’m not helpless!” Emma grumbled, holding up her hands to act as buffer between herself and the camera. Apparently, this was what Angie was looking for, and she gave a squeal of glee before running away down the hall saying something to herself about a poster. 

Mr. Hawkins was talking with the woman in cheetah print, clearly giddy over the actress. Emma shook her head and started to head down the hall to her locker to get a book and look busy while she tried to look for Alyssa down the hall. 

Emma was lucky that her locker was near Alyssa’s because there her girlfriend was, speed walking down the hall looking flustered. The two made eye contact and both simultaneously looked both ways down the hall to make sure they were alone. 

“This is insane. I don’t know what I was expecting from the meeting, but it wasn’t that.” Alyssa said, opening her locker to grab her history textbook. 

“I know.”

“Em, I just wanted to dance with you. But with how insane everything is right now I don’t think it’s ever going to happen.” Alyssa said, slowly taking a couple steps towards her girlfriend. 

“These people could change the tide, we don’t know babe. They are pretty scary.” Emma tried to calm Alyssa’s nerves. She reached for Alyssa’s hand, but the brunette took a step back. 

“I gotta go, I told my mom I just had to grab a book.” Alyssa said softly, the waver in her voice was enough to break Emma’s heart. 

“Lys, I didn’t want this to happen, you know that right?” Emma quickly said to Alyssa’s back. “I don’t want to turn our prom into some big civil rights movement, I just wanted to be with you and not have to hide for once.” 

Alyssa turned around and made a run for Emma, wrapping her up in a crushing hug. “I know, I just wish this wasn’t such a big deal. We are normal kids, and you don’t deserve this Em,” she said into Emma’s neck. They quickly separated hearing the click of heels on the tiled floor. 

Both girls mouthed a quick “I love you.” Alyssa tensed at the sound of her mother’s voice. 

“Alyssa Isabelle Greene, what are you doing?” Mrs. Greene asked, exasperated. 

“Nothing mom! Just grabbing my book.” Alyssa quickly said, jogging to stand by her mother’s side. She shot one more look at Emma before being lead out of the school and into the car by her mother. 

Mrs. Greene slammed her door closed and Alyssa tried to make herself as small as possible in her seat as her mom started to rant and rave. 

“The audacity of those people coming in like they know our community and have any right to shame us for upholding our beliefs! I am going to be stuck drafting even more press releases to keep this under control. Those horrid gays are ruining this community!” 

Alyssa had to bite her tongue to stop from saying anything about her mother’s homophobia. The second she got home she excused herself to go to her room, making up a bullshit excuse about intermediate fasting and piles of homework. 

She opened her phone and smiled at the texts coming in from Emma. 

— — 

Emma: They’re having a rally at the monster truck thing tonight. What the fuck is happening 

Emma: Barry and Angie want to take me out to Applebee’s after the rally. 

Emma: ALYSSA GET ON INSTAGRAM RIGHT NOW. NICK’S STORY. THIS SHIT IS INSANE. 

— — 

Alyssa closed her messages to go to Instagram and there she was. Well, kind of. It was a picture of Emma looking annoyed with her arms up at the camera while the group of actors were singing a badly written song about acceptance. They somehow got a group of colorful hippies to back them up and — oh God — when did they have time to get these neon shirts made? Whose idea was this? “We’re all lesbians”!? Alyssa felt the overwhelming need to call Emma, just to make sure she was okay. 

Voicemail. 

“Hey Em, I just wanna see if you’re good. I know this has been a lot today and I’m sorry for how things went down after the meeting. Uh— call me when you get the chance okay? I love you.” 

All she got back was a text:

Emma: I love you so much. 

— — 

Emma was surprisingly having a good time. Angie and Barry were nicer than she expected. It was weird, though, besides Alyssa and Mr. Hawkins, no one was interested in getting to know her, but here they were, both Angie and Barry gasping at Emma’s life story and hanging on her every word. 

It was very clear that both Barry and Angie were very proud people, sharing their accomplishments and gushing over their careers, but she could tell that they a little lost. Angie and Barry quickly started to take on parental roles throughout dinner. Angie chiding Emma for not eating enough, and Barry was cracking bad dad jokes whenever the opportunity presented itself.  
Everything was going well, Emma was laughing and having a great time, something that she hadn’t done in public in months. However, their good time was interrupted by the arrival of Fran and Dave Nolan. 

Emma hadn’t seen her parents since Christmas a year ago when they kicked her out and left more than a couple bruises. Angie was the first to realize something was wrong. Emma tensed up and her jaw clenched as she slid closer to the wall, trying to make herself as small as possible. 

“What’s up kiddo?” She asked, looking around to see who the girl was shying away from. Angie followed Emma’s eyeline and landed on a couple, both eyeing the table warily, the man clenching his fist. She nudged Barry who gave a slight nod before flagging down the server. 

“Hi, can we get our check now please?” He smiled at her, eyes jumping from the server to Emma clearly trying to get the girl out of the restaurant before the Nolans got any ideas.

Barry quickly threw enough cash down on the table to cover all three meals and a generous tip for their waitress. As they all stood up, Angie and Barry took a protective stance on either side of Emma, both with hands on her shoulders and walking her out quickly. 

It wasn’t until they were safely in the cab of Emma’s truck that anyone spoke. Emma sat at the wheel, shaking like a leaf in a storm, Angie was sitting next to her rubbing her back and murmuring calming words to her. Barry, on the other hand, was livid. 

“Emma, honey, did they hurt you?” He asked through gritted teeth. He softened at her slow nod. “No one is going to hurt you ever again, okay? We won’t let them.” 

Emma nodded and took a couple deep breaths before turning the key in the ignition and pulling out of the parking lot. 

— — 

The Broadway Group was in Edgewater for a couple of weeks, making noise and constantly showing up at school, much to the chagrin of the PTA and Mrs. Greene. If Emma wasn’t with Alyssa in the band closet, she was hanging out with Barry and Angie. Trent had made it his mission to try and “understand the youths” and Dee Dee was constantly with Mr. Hawkins. 

Alyssa and Emma were taking full advantage of their time alone in the band closet; shirts unbuttoned, and Alyssa busy leaving red marks on Emma’s chest. Emma’s phone started vibrating and both girls groaned at the interruption. Emma answered the phone as Alyssa began to button up her girlfriend’s flannel and then her own shirt.

“Hey Barry, what’s up?” Emma was trying to catch her breath. “Yeah, I can come to Hawkins’s office. I’ll see you in a couple minutes.” 

“What’s going on Em?” Alyssa watched the blonde rush around the room, packing the homework she had strewn around the closet. 

“Mr. Hawkins is apparently on the phone with the State Attorney, Barry sounded excited so I think it’s good news.” She ran a hand through her hair to try and tame her curls. Emma pressed a quick kiss to Alyssa’s lips and ran out the door. 

Alyssa waited until she couldn’t hear Emma’s converse hitting the floor to follow suit and leave the band closet. She wasn’t expecting to bump into one of the Broadway Ladies — Dee Dee, Alkin? Allen? — 

“Oh my God, I am so sorry, I didn’t see you there!” Alyssa quickly said, adverting her gaze to hide a guilty look on her face. How long had Dee Dee been there? Did she see Emma leave? 

“It’s okay,” she said, eyes studying the younger girl. “What’s your name hon?”

“Alyssa, ma’am. Alyssa Greene.” Alyssa looked up from her shoes to make eye contact with the actress. 

“Ah, I think I’ve met your mother more than once.” 

“Yes ma’am. I am so sorry about her, she doesn’t speak for me or the beliefs of everyone here.” Alyssa felt a seed of shame start to grow in the pit of her stomach. She heard everything her mother had been saying, not only about Emma, but about the troupe of actors in Edgewater. 

“It’s fine,” she waved her hand like she was shooing away Alyssa’s apology. “If your mother was the first person to say something rude to me I wouldn’t be a star, now would I? As you kids say, ‘the haters are my motivators.’” Alyssa laughed at how she over annunciated the quote, holding out the ‘r’ for a bit too long. 

“Anyways, I have a feeling that she has said some stuff to you that has probably hurt you more than she could ever hurt me.” Dee Dee’s eye contact was becoming a little too intense for Alyssa. It felt the woman was reading her like a book, and Alyssa just knew that she had an inkling about her and Emma. It was weird though, there was something about Dee Dee that made her feel calm. She wasn’t worried that this woman knew her secret, which was a new feeling. 

Alyssa excused herself from the conversation, ducking down the hall to the bathroom. It wasn’t until she looked into the mirror that she saw that she missed a button on her shirt and she had a mark on her neck from Emma. 

Well shit. 

— — 

Emma couldn’t believe her ears, she asked Mr. Hawkins to repeat what he was saying — twice. 

The prom was back on. 

Barry and Angie were doing a happy dance and Trent started a dramatic soliloquy relating himself to Jesus and sprinkling in mentions of Julliard. Emma just sat in the chair taking in the news. Dee Dee walked into the room with a pose and immediately joined the revelry before asking what they were even celebrating. 

All Emma could think about was Alyssa. Alyssa smiling in her prom dress. Alyssa’s brown hair in an updo with a few curls framing her face like the masterpiece it was. Alyssa’s eyes sparkling as they held each other and danced. Most of all she was fixated on the thought of being able to hold Alyssa’s hand in public. She had to text her. 

— — 

Emma: Can you meet me in the band closet after school? I have news. 

Alyssa: I have cheer practice, but I can drop by for like 5 before. 

Emma: Perfect. 

— — 

Emma was buzzing, sitting on one of the big speakers stacked in the corner of the band closet. Alyssa opened the door, hair up in a high ponytail and cheer uniform already on, and Emma almost forgot how to breathe. 

“What’s up babe?” Alyssa asked, smirking at her girlfriend’s reaction to her outfit. She knew Emma loved her cheer uniform, and she purposely hiked her skirt up a little higher than she would normally. 

“Uh—” Emma tried to formulate words through her increasingly dry mouth. “The lawyer called and the prom is back on.” 

“No fucking way!” Alyssa ran into Emma’s arms, almost tackling her to the ground in excitement. 

“Yes way!” Emma pulled Alyssa in close, relishing in the warmth of her girlfriend before gently pushing away to hold both of her hands. “So, Alyssa Greene, will you go to the prom with me?” 

“Em, we already did this—” 

“But this is a new, legally mandated prom, so it’s completely different, which means I have to ask you again, for consistency.” 

“Emma Nolan, I would love to go to the prom with you.” Alyssa smiled before pressing a tender kiss to Emma’s lips. Both girls smiling into the kiss. “You are hands down the most interesting thing to ever happen to me, Em. I love you so much.” 

“I love you too Lys.” Emma’s eyes were gleaming behind her glasses. 

“I gotta run, but I will see you tomorrow babe.” She gave Emma another quick kiss before running out of the closet to make it to practice on time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank god for the holiday because it let me get this entire chapter written in one day. I am a very anxious human who craves feedback so please lemme know how you liked it/disliked it.


	12. Chapter 12

The three days leading up to the prom were utter chaos. Barry was constantly making calls to costume designers and even commandeered Emma’s truck to drive to a bigger city to find some more choices that “didn’t have reek of sadness”. Emma was kept busy by Betsy, picking flowers and making corsages and boutonnieres for all the prom goers.

Mrs. Greene took over all of the planning for the prom because she wanted Alyssa to be able to focus on the diet, skincare regimen, and insane workout plan that her mother had created for her. Despite being mentally exhausted from juggling all of the different things her mother was having her do, Alyssa was extremely excited for the prom. 

Barry was a regular by this point at the Nolan house. He sat on Emma’s bed as she was trying on dresses in the closet. 

“Okay Emma! Are you ready yet?” He shouted towards the closet. 

“I’m coming out!” Emma took a breath and walked into the main part of her bedroom in a bubblegum pink dress that made her feel like a very uncomfortable cupcake. 

“Hmmmm… that’s a choice,” Barry tilted his head to the side as he took in the whole picture. “How do you feel kiddo?”

“Pink. Like, too pink. Plus it’s really short.” Emma started listing out everything that made her uncomfortable in the dress other than the fact that it was a dress. 

“I hear ya,” Barry started rummaging through the mountain of tulle and taffeta on the bed. “Try this one, I have a good feeling about it.” 

Emma stepped into the closet once more and started zipping herself into the dress as well as she could. Of all the dresses Barry had her try on, this one was by far her favorite. It was light blue and tea length, and despite some overly ruffle-y straps, it was perfect. The way that Barry gasped when she stepped out confirmed for her that this was the dress.

“Emma, you look stunning!” Barry was practically buzzing with excitement, and Emma would be lying if she said his enthusiasm didn’t brush off on her. Angie was suddenly on FaceTime shouting compliments mixed with overly enthusiastic curse words through Barry’s phone. 

Emma wasn’t used to receiving so may genuine compliments and she didn’t know how to react besides looking down at her socks. 

Barry agreed that the ruffles were too much, and he and Betsy put their heads together to come up with a game plan. While Betsy sewed, Barry started to pick out a pair of heels, which turned into teaching Emma how to walk in heels. The actor was surprisingly graceful in six-inch stilettos and Emma felt like a baby giraffe learning how to walk on wobbly ankles. 

—— 

Dee Dee took it upon herself to be in charge of Emma’s hair and makeup, which surprised Emma. Out of all the Broadway Group, she was the least close to Dee Dee and so it took her back when the Tony Award winner wanted to spend time with her. 

Emma was sitting in a chair in Dee Dee’s motel room in one of Barry’s robes with goop on her face as Dee Dee curled her hair. 

“You know, I always wanted to do this,” Dee Dee stated matter of fact.

“Curl a random kid’s hair?” Emma said, trying to not move her face or mouth as to not mess up the mask. 

“Well, yes and no.” Dee Dee set down the curling iron and picked up a comb. “I always wanted a daughter for things like this. Helping her get ready for her prom, watching her graduate, crying with her at her wedding, but my dick-wad of an ex-husband doesn’t like kids, and I was always too busy changing the world with my immense talent, so we never had one.” The two made eye contact in the mirror and Emma saw a softer side to the woman that she hadn’t seen before. 

They chatted and laughed as Dee Dee slowly pulled the face mask off of Emma and applied her makeup. 

There was a knock at the door and in came Barry, smiling like a buffoon and holding a garment bag. Again, Emma was showered with praise and compliments as she walked out in her dress and heels. Barry lead her over to the mirror and Emma gasped. 

She didn’t recognize the girl in the mirror staring back at her. Had her eyes always been this big? Have they always been that color? Since when did she have cheekbones? And her hair was gorgeous. Was it the heels or the dress or the newfound self-confidence that had Emma standing taller? Emma couldn’t formulate words, so she turned around and wrapped both Barry and Dee Dee into the biggest, warmest hug she could manage. 

Emma pulled away to find both adults misty eyed and smiling. 

“Well, are you guys ready?” She asked, shaking her car keys to try and break them out of their emotional state. 

— — 

Alyssa couldn’t tell who was more excited for the prom, her or her mother. Mrs. Greene would not let Alyssa do anything to prepare for the prom, insisting that she did it for her because “it’s not every day my superstar goes to her senior prom!” 

Alyssa was buzzing with excitement and anxiety at the thought of finally dancing with Emma in public. She found herself zoning out thinking about Emma and slow dancing into oblivion while her mother pinned up her hair.

“Alyssa, I still can’t believe that you don’t have a date. Any boy would be lucky to take you,” Mrs. Greene prattled to her spaced out daughter. “I love how focused you are on your studies and extracurriculars, but you’re too pretty to not be dating anyone.”

Alyssa hummed in response, blocking out her mother’s antiquated way of thinking. Once Mrs. Greene added the fifth “final touch” of mascara, Alyssa was out of the chair, zipping into her dress and putting on her heels. 

“Okay Superstar! Let’s head on over!” Mrs. Greene was halfway out the door before Alyssa questioned her mother’s choice to drive her. 

“Mom, I was just going to drive myself.” 

“Don’t be silly! It’s your big night and I want everything to be a surprise honey.” The way that her mother was smiling gave Alyssa pause, but she quickly shook it out of her head. She was too preoccupied psyching herself up for her big moment with Emma. 

Alyssa hopped out of the car the second they pulled up to the Elk Club. She wanted to be in the banquet hall before Emma got there. Alyssa was met with hellos and hugs, and excited squealing from a glittery Shelby and Kaylee. They pulled her onto the dancefloor, all spinning around and laughing, Alyssa keeping an eye on the door for her girlfriend. 

— — 

Barry slipped the corsage that Betsy had made for Emma onto her wrist. Soft blue ribbon intertwined with white roses and baby’s breath — it was beautiful. Emma looked up at Barry and the rest of the troupe, all of who were holding hands and smiling at her. Everything about this moment felt right. Having a group of people there who genuinely cared for her, who went to bat for her, who she would be proud to call family, the gratitude overwhelmed her and she swallowed down the lump in her throat. 

“Can you guys walk me in? I’m a little nervous,” Emma knew that besides one cheerleader, no one would be happy to see her in the gym. 

“Of course kiddo,” Barry said as he offered his arm to her. “Hold on tight.” 

They opened the double doors and Emma felt the air get knocked out of her lungs. 

No one was here.

Alyssa wasn’t here.

They lied to her.

They made this prom just for her, like some sadistic torture device. 

Mr. Hawkins was in the middle of the gym on the phone, his voice echoing around the empty gym. He turned around with anger and sadness smattered across his face, the anger fell away to just pity when he saw Emma’s face. 

“Emma, I’m so sorry—”

“What the fuck is this Tom?” Dee Dee spat, pacing the room.

“Apparently the PTA planned two proms, one at the Elks Club and this one, just for Emma,” he said quietly, head hung low. 

Emma couldn’t hold back the tears this time. She didn’t want the others to see her crying, so she turned her back to them and took a couple steps away from them all. Angie followed her and put her arms around Emma’s shaking shoulders, trying to help calm the teen down. 

Dee Dee was talking to Sheldon about protecting her and her celebrity status, swearing that Emma would get over this, but Emma couldn't bare to hear any more. She bolted out of the gym, dress billowing around her. 

Emma ran down the hall to the only place she knew she would be alone. She slammed door shut behind her and fell against it, hugging her knees to her chest. It took her a couple of seconds to realize her phone was buzzing in her purse. 

“Alyssa?” 

“Emma? Baby are you okay?” Alyssa sounded frantic, yelling over booming music.

“Did you know about this?” 

“About what? Em, where are you?”

“I’m at the school, for the prom your mother and the PTA threw… just for me.” Emma was getting control over the shake in her voice, focusing it in anger. 

“No. No. That can’t— Em, are you okay?” 

“Can you come here?”

“My mom drove me, she’s watching my every move—”

“Then tell her the truth! We were going to do it anyway. Tell her you’re gay. Tell her we’re in love!” The words were spilling out of Emma, but she knew deep down the next words that were going to come from her girlfriend.

“I can’t. This isn’t how I thought it was going to be, I can’t do this Emma.” 

Emma hung up the phone and threw it across the room. It clattered against the floor. She didn’t have the strength to go and check if she broke it. She just wanted to stay here on the floor in the band closet for the rest of her life. 

There was a soft knock at the door and a muffled voice. 

“Honey, it’s Angie. Are you okay?” 

Emma couldn’t find the words to even begin to explain how not okay she was. She just reached for the door knob and unlocked it, letting the blonde woman in. Angie stood there for a second, studying Emma’s face before dropping to her knees and scooping her up into a hug. 

This broke Emma. She sat there clinging to Angie’s black dress sobbing into her shoulder while Angie rubbed calming circles into her back. 

They sat there for the next half hour. Angie ignored the calls she was getting from Barry and Trent and held Emma, waiting for the crying girl to signal that she was ready to go home. 

Angie helped Emma up off the ground and didn’t take her arm off of Emma’s shoulder as they walked to the truck. Dee Dee, Trent and Sheldon had taken an uber back to get a “sorry this was the worst night of your life” survival basket, leaving Barry sitting on the bench outside of the gym with his head in his hands. His head popped up when he heard the clicking of heels and made eye contact with Angie who shook her head. Barry took his place on the other side of Emma and held her hand as they walked to her truck.

They were met by Betsy at the door who brought Emma into a soft hug before leading her upstairs to get into more comfortable clothes. 

Emma washed off stubborn makeup and took out her contacts. She slipped her glasses back on and for the first time that day, she recognized the girl in the mirror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well folks, it's all uphill from here. Lemme know what you thought of it!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma woke up to soft sunlight creeping through her blinds and the smell of bacon frying downstairs. Her entire body ached from the exertion of crying herself to sleep the night before. Barry was in the corner of the room, sleeping on the armchair that Emma liked to read in.

Emma woke up to soft sunlight creeping through her blinds and the smell of bacon frying downstairs. Her entire body ached from the exertion of crying herself to sleep the night before. Barry was in the corner of the room, sleeping on the armchair that Emma liked to read in. 

Emma slipped out of the room, careful not to wake Barry and padded downstairs. A bleary Angie was sitting at the kitchen table, clutching a coffee mug like it was her lifeline to this world. Betsy was bustling around, scrambling eggs and frying bacon, the smell of fresh baked muffins started to fill the room. Despite the hellish night that Emma had, the comfort of a classic Betsy Nolan Breakfast brought a smile to her face. 

“There’s my girl!” Betsy smiled at Emma as she handed her a mug filled with black coffee. “We are almost ready to eat honey, can you go wake Barry up?”

“Yeah, of course.” Emma took a swig of her coffee and headed back upstairs. It took a couple of tries to get Barry to wake up, finally doing so after Emma put her coffee under his nose. 

“Mornin’ kiddo,” he looked at her through half-closed eyes. “How are you doing?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Emma sat down on the edge of her bed, playing with a piece of lint on her comforter. “I think I’m just tired of all the fighting and the hate. Why is there so much hate?” 

Barry took a couple of seconds, clearly not ready for this level of conversation first thing in the morning. “I wish I had the answer for you, but if I did I would have talked to my mom in the past 20 years. But when it comes to those people — we just have to treat them with grace and dignity and don’t let them shit on your parade.”

“I’m glad you’re here, Barry,” Emma said, giving a soft smile to the man. “I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through any of this without you. Thank you.” 

“No ma’am, it is too early to make me cry,” his eyes started to get misty as he fanned his face. “Let’s go eat kiddo, we can talk more after breakfast.” 

They walked down the stairs to a now full kitchen table. Dee Dee, Sheldon and Trent were already sitting at the table while Angie set down forks and knives. Seeing Emma come in, Dee Dee stood up and wrapped her into a tight hug. 

“Emma, I am so sorry about last night, I was being a bitch and you didn’t deserve that,” she murmured into Emma’s hair. Emma just hugged her tighter. 

Breakfast was loud and the complete opposite of the night before. Emma’s stomach hurt from laughing and it wasn’t until she checked her phone for the first time that day that her smile fell. 

— — 

Alyssa: Em, I am so sorry. I swear I didn’t know. My mother is a monster and I will do anything to make this up to you. 

Alyssa: Emma, please. Talk to me? I’m worried about you. Are you okay?

Alyssa: I love you. Call me when you get the chance?

— —

Alyssa was going out of her mind. She had her mom take her home from the prom early, blaming a non-existent migraine. Alyssa had spent the entire night tossing and turning, thinking about how Emma must have felt walking into the empty gym. 

She hated herself for not being strong enough to tell her mother the truth about them, and the only thought racing through her head was I just need to talk to Emma. 

She didn’t hear from her all Sunday, texts and calls going unanswered. Alyssa prayed for hours, asking God for guidance and help. It wasn’t until she checked her phone for what seemed like the millionth time that day for a response from Emma, that she realized that her mother had been gone all day doing different interviews for the local news stations. 

Alyssa knew that this wasn’t going to help Emma talk to her any time soon, and to be completely honest, she wouldn’t blame her girlfriend if she never spoke to her again. That thought was enough to trigger an anxiety attack in Alyssa.

Her chest tightened and it felt like she was being submerged in ice water while simultaneously being set on fire from the inside. This wasn’t her first rodeo with these kinds of anxiety attacks, and so when she got back to some sort of steady ground, she knew it was time to try and go to bed to not let any more happen. 

— — 

Angie and Emma were sitting on the teen’s bed eating ice cream and watching the news. It would’ve been funny how much Mrs. Greene’s face was plastered across the screens if she wasn’t trying to spin the fake prom into a way to protect Emma from the hate of the real world — like she wasn’t the main mouthpiece of the hate. 

“Goddammit I hate that woman!” Angie angrily turned off the tv, giving a quick look to see if Emma was okay. Emma was eating her ice cream too fast and angrily for anyone to think she was okay. “You okay kid?” 

“I’m just sick of everyone else telling my story. People like Mrs. Greene keep twisting it and making you guys seem like the bad guys here, which you aren’t.” She looked up from the half-eaten and dented carton in her hand. “I’m just tired and I don’t know what to do.”

“Emma, it’s pretty clear kiddo. You gotta take it into your own hands, be the face of your story. Tell the truth.” The dancer’s eyes started to sparkle at the thought. “I’m going to call Sheldon and see if we can get you in front of any cameras, Okay?”

“No, not okay. Angie, I’m not like you guys, I can’t just talk in front of millions of people.” The twinge of fear breaking shining through her voice. 

“It’s easy! We just gotta get your confidence up hon!” Angie was lost a moment in thought. “Here, get up and follow what I do.”

Emma obeyed the order and stood there as Angie searched for a song on her phone. Emma didn’t recognize it, but knowing Angie it had to be from Chicago. The older woman took a breath and melted into a pose that looked abnormal for the human body, but Angie made it look like the most natural thing in the world. 

“Emma, get into a pose that makes you feel confident!” Angie quickly said, shooting a look at Emma who was still just standing there awkwardly. 

Seeing that Emma wasn’t understanding what to do with her body, Angie posed the teen herself. Emma’s hands were now uncomfortably perched on her waist and her hip was jutted out to an angle she never knew it could achieve. Once Angie was satisfied with the initial pose, the music started and Angie began to perform, what Emma could only guess, dumbed down Fosse choreography.

It took a couple of tries and a ton of encouragement from Angie, but Emma began to get the “Zazz” that Angie kept talking about. Her smile grew as she followed Angie’s movements, and there was something beginning to bloom in Emma’s chest that she never felt before — was it confidence?

Post dance had Emma feeling the kind of confidence that she found herself telling Angie to make the call to Sheldon. Even if she didn’t feel that she could talk to a TV audience of millions, Emma wanted to take her story public, but deep down she knew that she wanted to do it with Alyssa. 

— — 

Alyssa was pulled out her dreamless sleep by her mother who burst into her bedroom, telling her to get ready for school. She went through her morning routine, doing her hair and makeup to her mother’s standards. It wasn’t until she was putting on her watch that she noticed that it was 5 a.m., she didn’t have school for another four hours. 

“Mom, why are we up so early?” She yelled down the stairs.

“I have to do a quick thing for the news, and I want you to be with me,” came the reply. 

Alyssa’s stomach sank. The last thing she wanted to do was stand beside her mother while she was vilifying her girlfriend and spewing even more hate. But, she knew that Mrs. Greene wouldn’t take no for an answer, so she swallowed down the uneasiness and smiled at her mother when she got in the car. 

Mrs. Greene got out of the car in front of the school to greet the four news stations from all over Indiana who were already setting up. Alyssa stayed in the passenger’s seat trying to prepare herself for what her mother would say to the cameras, but she got distracted by her message-less phone sitting in the pocket of her dress. She looked past the dashboard to see her mother gesturing for her to come like she was a well-trained Labrador. Alyssa held up a finger and sent a quick text to her silent girlfriend. 

Alyssa: Can you meet me in the band closet at lunch? I need to talk to you. 

— — 

Emma was sleepwalking through the motions of her morning. She drove to school in a trance, it took the slight buzz of her phone in her jacket to finally break her out of it. She responded a “yes.” to the question and steeled herself before she walked to the entrance. 

There she was — Alyssa Greene — smiling at the cameras as Mrs. Greene addressed her audience. Alyssa’s smile didn’t reach her eyes and her dimples weren’t showing as much as they normally did, but she was still there, smiling as her mother added fuel to the fire. 

“My daughter and I worked very hard to plan this prom, and she had every right to enjoy it. We were not trying to hurt that girl, we wanted to protect her from people that don’t agree with her life choices. If you want to point fingers, look towards the people who have implanted themselves in our community and have been treating that poor girl like a publicity free-for-all —”

Emma couldn’t bear to hear any more of it, she pushed past the cluster of students watching Mrs. Greene. 

Alyssa saw Emma the second she walked up, but she knew that things would only be worse if she left her mother’s side. Even though every fiber of her being told her to run to her girlfriend and console her, she had to stand there and play the role her mother had cultivated for her. She had to be Alyssa Greene, the dutiful daughter, the Valedictorian, the cheer captain, the definition of perfection — it was killing her. 

The reporters shook both Greene women’s hands and Alyssa used their departure as her window of opportunity to escape her mother. The halls were bursting with energy; everyone gushing over their prom nights and whatever craziness ensued after the dance. Alyssa smiled at Kaylee and Shelby as they went into vivid detail about their “steamy” nights with their boyfriends. Morning classes passed the same way: no one focused on the lessons, and the teachers gave up trying to make everyone concentrate, instead opting for a movie. 

Alyssa kept sneaking glances over her shoulder to try and make eye contact with Emma, but the blonde was focused on writing something in the margins of her notebook. The lunch bell rang and Alyssa felt like she could breathe for the first time that day, in a couple of minutes she would be with Emma in the safety of their band closet. Everything would be alright. 

— — 

Everything wasn’t alright. 

Alyssa was in the band closet alone and after what felt like a century of pacing the small width of the closet, the door opened. There was Emma, looking at Alyssa expectantly with her hands in her pockets. 

“What do you want Alyssa?” It was far from the greeting that Alyssa was expecting. 

“Wow, uh— Okay,” Alyssa said, taken aback by the coldness in her girlfriend’s eyes. “Emma, I am so sorry about what happened. I had no idea that was going to happen.”

“How could you not have known? Your mother was just telling hundreds of people that you planned the prom Alyssa, how could you have done this?” Emma’s eyes were filled with angry tears. The fake prom hurt like hell, but the thought that Alyssa could have had any hand in it felt like she had taken a knife to the chest. 

“My mother wouldn’t let me touch any of the planning after they decided there would be a prom. I didn’t even know it wasn’t at school until she drove me to the Elks Club!” Alyssa softened as Emma’s bottom lip quivered. “Emma, I love you so much, and the thought of you being in that gym alone breaks my heart, and I wished I could have been there with you.”

“You could have come and taken me out of it, but you stayed at the normal people prom while I was having a breakdown in this spot while Angie held me.” Emma got very quiet while she took a breath and regained her composure. 

“I couldn’t leave! You know the kind of person my mother is, I wouldn’t have made it five feet out the door without her swooping in and stopping me. She has all of these expectations for me and it’s killing me.” Alyssa’s world was spinning. Whenever she would get like this, Emma was always her anchor, but she knew Emma wouldn’t hold her this time. No matter how much she needed it. “Emma, I love you. I love you more than I can even say. I—” 

Emma closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. It was look in her eyes when she looked at Alyssa that hit the brunette like a wrecking ball to the chest. “I’m going public. I don’t know how yet, but the entire world is going to hear my story, will you join me?”

Alyssa’s heart was shouting “Yes” but the anxiety overwhelming her system took over her brain, “Emma, I can’t. I wish I could but I’m not strong like you are.”

Emma regarded the brunette for a minute, eyes searching for something to say to convince her, but instead looked away and said, “I believe you have feelings for me, but I can’t — I can’t do this anymore. It hurts too much, and I don’t want to be sad anymore.” 

“Emma, please, no. I don’t wanna lose you. If I could, I would choose you. I would choose you every single time.” Alyssa was pleading now, desperately not wanting this to be how they end.

“I’m sorry Alyssa.” Emma gave her one more long look before turning around and leaving Alyssa alone in the band closet. 

Alyssa felt all the air leave her lungs and the walls of the already small room, start to close in on her. Every nerve in her body was screaming at her to run, so she did. Alyssa ran down the hall, tears blurring her vision, until she came to the doors of the auditorium. After the theatre program was cut, no one used the auditorium, let alone hung out there. 

Alyssa curled up on one of the dusty seats on the aisle, trying to collect herself. Wiping the streams of mascara down her face when she heard someone come into the room. 

“Oh— I am sorry, I didn’t know this school had a performance space and I wanted to check it out.” The Broadway guy, the one who wasn’t Barry, was smiling at Alyssa. “I’m Trent Oliver by the way.” 

“Alyssa Greene,” she sniffed and shook the man’s outstretched hand.

“It is nice to meet you Alyssa. If you don’t mind my asking, are you okay?” There was a genuine look of concern in his eyes that had Alyssa spilling everything that had just happened. As Alyssa tried to catch her breath after a solid five minutes of word vomiting on Trent, he took a second to digest everything he had just heard. 

“Alyssa, I can tell you’re in distress about this. You and Emma are something of star-crossed lovers, eager to be together, but kept apart due to society. I know Emma cares a lot about you, she did all of this for the both of you, and if I learned anything from my time at Julliard, it’s that love always wins. So, you just gotta give it time and hang in there.” 

Alyssa didn’t think this weird, overly-righteous, guy would actually help, but here she was, hugging him and thanking him. He sat there and patted her back until the bell rang to release from lunch. Alyssa checked her makeup in her phone screen, and while she looked like she had been crying, it wasn’t anything she couldn’t play of as allergies. 

Emma wasn’t in class for the rest of the day, a blessing and a curse for Alyssa. She wanted nothing more than to see Emma and remind herself that their relationship wasn’t all a dream, but she knew the second she set eyes on the blonde she would be a blubbering mess. 

If there was one thing Alyssa knew how to do, it was play a part. She smiled and studied. She ran meetings and did her homework. She was Alyssa Greene. But deep down, all she wanted to be was Alyssa: the girl in the band closet with Emma. 

It was bittersweet for Alyssa, she never really understood how much she loved taking off the mask that she had to wear with everyone. Emma loved Alyssa because she was Alyssa — not Alyssa Greene. Alyssa was tired of wearing a mask, and the day Emma broke up with her cemented it: she was going to take it off for good. 

— — 

Emma couldn’t get this goddamn song out of her head. It kept playing in her head, taunting her — half-finished. After seeing Alyssa in the band closet during lunch for the last time, words started to creep into her mind, dancing with the melody.

It was a relief when she ran into Trent on her way to the front office to talk to Mr. Hawkins. He somehow knew that something was up and convinced Emma to skip the rest of the day — something that took minimal persuading — and get some “real food” with him. Next thing she knew, Emma and Trent were sitting across from each other in vinyl booths at a diner a couple miles out of town, eating burgers and fries.

“So, Emma, how are you doing?” Trent watched her like he was studying her, taking in every small movement. His left eyebrow was just barely raised, but Emma knew that he knew about something, she just didn’t know what.

“Well, Saturday was the worst night of my life and today I had to be in the same room with the people who planned it… so honestly, today doesn’t rank in my top five.” Emma said, focusing her frustration at the situation on her fries and not the man in front of her. 

“Yeah, that was a dumb question on my part,” Trent laughed, eyes still scrutinizing the teen. “So Sheldon and Dee Dee are working on getting you on TV! How do you feel?”

Emma let out a sigh, “honestly? It’s really overwhelming, TV seems just too big, and I don’t really want to be interviewed and asked to relive it all, I don’t see what good that’s going to do for anyone, especially me.”

“I get that. If not TV, what do you want to do?” Trent now shifted his focus onto the half-eaten burger in his hand.

“I don’t know, but I know it’s not some talk show.” Emma said quietly, brow creasing in thought, trying to formulate just how to do this all on her terms. 

“Well, you’re very creative, I have no doubt that whatever it’s going to be, it’s going to be the right choice.” Trent’s eyes were now sparkling with what Emma can only read as pride. “You’re probably the strongest person I know Emma, and I’m really proud of you for keeping your head above water throughout all of this.” 

“Thanks Trent,” Emma said, still looking down at her food. “But don’t say that stuff around Barry or else he’s gunna think you’re trying to compete to be my surrogate father-figure.” 

The two laughed and talked about Trent’s time at Juilliard and Emma’s post-high school plans until they got to the motel. Trent was getting ready to head out of the truck when he turned and looked at Emma before saying: 

“You have a lot of people who truly love you Emma, I know that they may not always seem like they’re there, but they’re truly trying. Keep your head up and your heart open, you never know who’s going to surprise you.” 

And before Emma could start to process who he was talking about, Trent was out the door and unlocking the door to his dingy room. 

Emma sent Dee Dee and Sheldon a text thanking them for their work, but letting them know she wasn’t going to be on TV. It was met with two very carefully worded texts from the two adults, and Emma couldn’t quite tell if they were mad or not. 

She put her phone away and grabbed her guitar, settling down into the chair that Barry had slept in two nights ago. It still faintly smelled like his cologne, which was comforting to Emma as she started to strum and write out the song that had been in her head all day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah that was way longer than I anticipated. Lemme know what y'all think, the comments and kudos keep me going because I crave feedback


	14. Chapter 14

 Emma didn’t sleep. Instead she was busy picking away at her guitar, trying to get chord progressions down. When her hand started to cramp she would move to lyric writing. It was this back and forth that took up the majority of her night, but by 4 a.m., it was done and Emma collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep.

 

Betsy didn’t wake her up for school, having heard her granddaughter writing music for the first time since the first prom got cancelled. Plus, Emma was one of the best students at school, she could afford to miss a day. The teen slept in until noon. She could have gone longer, but her blinds could only do so much to block out the sunlight that was now flooding her room.

 

Betsy was downstairs baking a pie with Angie when Emma came downstairs, the dancer always seemed to be at the house, helping Betsy and checking in on Emma.

 

“Good morning sleeping beauty,” Betsy said, looking up from the apple she was peeling. “What were you working on all night honey?”

 

“I had this song stuck in my head all day and I needed to get it down on paper before I lost it,” Emma said as she looked at the two women. “I think it’s how I am going to tell my story, I wasn’t planning on it being this, but it just kinda feels right.”

 

“I think that’s a great idea kiddo,” Angie’s eyes sparkled, hands caked in flour not stopping her from reaching to hug Emma. Emma ducked out of the way to protect her favorite flannel from getting dirty, only to have Angie fling flour in the teen’s face.

 

Emma washed her hands and rolled up her sleeves to help the two women with the pie, cutting up the apples into thin slices and coating them in cinnamon and sugar.

 

“Emma, I haven’t seen your girlfriend around anymore, is everything good with you two?” Betsy asked, very carefully choosing her words to not out Alyssa. It was the small things like this that showed Emma just how much Betsy loved her, but Alyssa was a sore topic for Emma, they had broken up yesterday, and here she was, getting ready to come out on the internet with a song about their entire relationship.

 

“We— uh, we broke up yesterday.” Emma didn’t look Betsy in the eye because she knew she would start crying if she did. Betsy didn’t say anything, just put her hand on Emma’s shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze. Angie felt the energy shift in the room and started off on another story about her time in "Chicago".

 

Barry and Trent came over as the pie was finishing cooling, and that night the five of them all sat around with forks and vanilla ice cream and laughed as Betsy told embarrassing stories about Emma as a baby. The evening and laughter died down and Emma went upstairs to record her video. 

 

It took a couple of tries to get the words to come out in something that resembled human speech patterns, but she got it done. The song felt like it was playing itself as she got lost in the memories of her times with Alyssa, her heartbreaking just a little more as she strummed the final chord.

 

Emma quickly uploaded the video and typed a quick synopsis of everything that had went down with the prom and pressed publish. She shut her laptop and put it somewhere far out of reach so she wouldn’t be constantly checking views and comments, and got ready for bed. Memories of Alyssa played in her mind like a movie at the drive-in as she drifted off into a deep sleep.

 

— —

 

Alyssa’s phone was blowing up. The group text that she had with Kaylee and Shelby kept going off, almost buzzing the phone off of the corner of her desk. Apparently Trent had run into some students at the 7/11 after school and talked religion with them all, and now both Shelby and Kaylee were texting away about how they felt horrible for hurting Emma and whoever her mystery girlfriend was.

 

Alyssa smiled at the thought of her town starting to change for the better. The remorse in both of her friends’ texts seemingly encouraged her to go out on a limb.

 — —

Alyssa: Hey, I have something to tell you guys

 

Kaylee: Shoot

 

Shelby: What’s up buttercup?

 

Alyssa: I was the one who Emma was going to take to prom. We had been dating for like a year and a half and stuff and yeah. I'm a lesbian. 

 

Shelby: No way. Alyssa, thank you for trusting us with this. Does anyone else know?

 

Alyssa: Just me, Emma and her grandma, and now you guys. Oh and Trent, I kinda spilled my guts to him yesterday.

 

Kaylee: What do you mean “we HAD been dating??????”

 

Alyssa: She broke up with me. Yesterday during lunch.

 

Kaylee: Lyssa I am so sorry.

 

Shelby: yeah that really sucks.

 

Kaylee: Do you want to get back together?

 

Alyssa: more than anything, I love her. I’m in love with her. It’s just scary because I don’t know what would happen if my mom finds out. Emma’s parents kicked her out and cut her off, she has Betsy so she was lucky, but ever since Dad left, I don’t have anyone but mom.

 

Shelby: Well you have us.

 

Kaylee: Yeah! We love you girl.

 

— —

 

Alyssa couldn’t control the tears. She had cried a lot in the past four days, but this felt different. These weren’t tears of sadness, they were relief and gratitude. Coming out to Shelby and Kaylee wasn’t anything like she thought it would be, and the weight that was lifted off of her chest that made her feel like she was constantly drowning was a little lighter — all she could think was _I can do this._  

 

She fell asleep in the middle of writing out dozen of sentences to use when she told her mother, ready for every scenario she could envision. What she wasn’t ready for was already sitting on YouTube, racking up millions of views and comments.

 

Alyssa woke up to Shelby calling her.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Lyssa, you gotta watch Emma’s video!!!” The girl’s voice was far too energetic and loud for six the morning.

 

“What? Emma made a video?” Alyssa was still half-asleep and convinced that this was just a dream.

 

“Yes. I texted it to you! She’s got like over 2 million views and she just posted it last night! James Charles could NEVEr.”

 

This had Alyssa sitting up in her bed, paper strewn around her from her writing last night. One of the sheets was pressed to her face, fluttering down with smeared ink that Alyssa knew was all over her cheek. But that didn’t matter right now, what mattered was Emma going viral. She opened her messages and clicked on the link — Shelby still on the phone, but now quiet, waiting for Alyssa to finish watching the video.

 

There Emma was with her guitar sitting on her bed. Alyssa hung on every single word Emma said, breathless when she started to play. The song ended as well as the video and Alyssa was the kind of speechless she only got when she was with Emma.

 

“Holy shit,” she murmured after a couple of seconds.

 

“I know right? Plus some people started a petition to throw a prom, but like, a real, inclusive one.” Shelby said, laughing at her best friend’s reaction to the video.

 

“Shelbs, I gotta go. I’ll see you at the lockers in a couple hours.”

 

“Kay-kay! Love ya!” And Shelby hung up.

 

Alyssa re-watched the video as much as she could, getting lost in the melody, feeling the emotions in the lyrics, falling more and more in love with Emma Nolan every single time she hit replay.

 

Mrs. Greene was fuming at breakfast while Alyssa had her nose buried in her phone with headphones on.

 

“I cannot BELIEVE the audacity of that girl,” she said, angrily spreading almond butter on a rice cake. “She makes this little video and makes us out to be some horrible people for standing up for the ethics of our community!”

 

“Mom, this whole town has done some really horrible things to her,” Alyssa snapped back, reaching the end of her rope with her mother. “You threw a fake prom just for her so she couldn’t dance with her girlfriend. You’ve been dragging her name through the mud. You’ve been fueling all the hate that she has been facing at school. Emma is a genuinely good person, and this entire town has made her feel so alone and hurt. So yeah, maybe we are the bad guys in this scenario.”

 

Mrs. Greene opened her mouth to say something back, but was at a loss for words, something that Alyssa had never seen before. Even when her father left, her mother had some very choice things to say, but now — she was silent, opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water.

 

Alyssa took this as a victory and grabbed her backpack to walk to school, ready for some time to be alone to listen to Emma’s song.

 

— —

 

Emma walked downstairs to grab a quick breakfast and was nearly tackled to the ground by an over excited group of adults. Barry was the first one she made contact with, he was holding her and jumping up and down excitedly and crying.

 

“What’s going on guys? Were you that worried I wasn’t going to make it through the night?” She said, looking at all of them confused.

 

“Emma, are you fucking kidding me? That video! You’re huge!” Barry said as he pulled out his phone to show her the number of views hiking up every second. It was already past 2 million, and it had only been eight hours. Emma had to take a second and process everything that was happening, but when Barry started talking about another prom — a real one — she couldn’t stop smiling.

 

Walking into James Madison High School was like walking into a completely different dimension for Emma. No one was shooting her dirty looks or purposely shoulder-checking her, instead people were smiling at her, coming up to apologize, or congratulate her on her video. Everyone’s eyes were on her, but in the completely opposite way she was used to; instead of disdain and hatred, they were looking at Emma with remorse and admiration. Then she saw Alyssa.

 

The brunette was leaning against her locker laughing with Shelby and Kaylee. She saw Emma over Kaylee’s shoulder and the two girls’ eyes met and time stopped. Everyone else in the halls began to fade away, all Emma could focus on was her ex-girlfriend who was looking at Emma like she hung the stars herself. Both Kaylee and Shelby turned around and looked between the two girls and made a swift exit, Shelby nudging Alyssa forward.

 

Both girls just looked at each other, brown eyes meeting hazel. Emma felt her mouth go dry and Alyssa cleared her throat and opened her mouth to say something when the bell rang — taking both girls out of their daze. Alyssa’s face flushed as she hugged her books closer to her chest walking to her first period.

 

The rest of the day went the same as Emma’s morning. All she had ever wanted to do was fly underneath the radar until graduation, but the prom incident made that nearly impossible, and now her video, while giving her far nicer attention than she was used to, had her feeling everyone’s eyes on her at all times. So, she was thankful that very few people knew about the band closet. She was scrolling through Twitter, purposefully skipping past all tweets with her video, when she got a text from Barry.

 

— — 

 

Barry: Hey kiddo, meet me at the motel after school, I have some news for you.

 

Barry: And don’t worry, we aren’t making you go on TV.

 

Emma: Coolcoolcool, I’ll see you around 4

 

— —

 

Barry was practically vibrating as he told Emma that there was going to be a prom. Emma kept quiet for a few minutes, letting it sink in that all of the bullshit was going to finally be done and she could go to a real prom like a normal kid. Then she remembered: she didn’t have a date.

 

“Barry?”

 

“Yeah hon?” He was looking at her through the mirror as he applied moisturizer.

 

“Will you be my date? My girlfriend and I kinda broke up, and to be honest, there’s no one else I’d rather go with.” Emma blurted out, ready for Barry to tell her no.

 

“Emma, of course I will! Can I wear what I was going to wear to my prom?” His eyes were glittering with tears as he turned around to look at Emma.

 

“I would be offended if you didn’t. Oh shit — I don’t have anything to wear on Friday, fuck, is it too late to go get something? I don’t wanna wear the dress I wore last time.” Emma’s head was spinning as she tried to figure out where to go dress shopping.

 

“Who said you’re going to wear a dress?” Barry said, looking at her with a mischievous glint in his eye. “Look in my closet.”

 

Emma got up off of the bed and took the four steps to the closet. Barry was nodding like a bobblehead as she opened the shuttered doors, and she gasped when she saw what was hanging there — it was a black velvet tux jacket and blue pants.

 

“Holy shit — Barry, is this. Is this for me?” It took a couple tries to get the words out.

 

“You bet your little lesbian ass that it is! Betsy sent me your measurements and I got this made for you, plus we got it made so you can dance like a lunatic and not be constricted — it’s a little thing I’ve learned from the opening night parties.”

 

“Barry, I don’t know what to say. Thank you. This means a lot,” Emma said as she crushed the man into a big bear hug.

 

“Stop trying to make me cry Emma! We gotta get to the farm, Betsy made me promise that we would be home for dinner. So let’s grab your clothes and let’s go!” Barry wiped tears from his eyes and started out the door. Emma couldn’t help but smile as she grabbed the suit and caught up with Barry at her truck.

 

— —

 

Alyssa didn’t know why her mom was stomping around school like Godzilla today, but here she was pulling Alyssa into the gym. The gym was strangely full today with Mr. Hawkins and the PTA, but also the Broadway Group and Emma.

 

“Mr. Hawkins, I don’t believe that the PTA gave permission for you to use the gym tonight,” Mrs. Greene said, bristling at the principal who was holding hands with Dee Dee.

 

“Mrs. Greene, if I had to ask permission from the PTA to do every little thing, nothing in this school would get done. Also, you threw two proms, so let me take care of this one.” He said, Dee Dee squeezed his hand a little and all Alyssa could focus on was the word “prom”. There was going to be another prom??

 

Then it all dawned on her — if there was going to be any time to come out, this was it.

 

“I just don’t understand why we keep having to deal with this.” Alyssa came back from her thoughts to her mother monologuing. “We are a caring community and we don’t agree with this lifestyle.”

 

“Actually, Mom. There’s nothing wrong with being gay.” Alyssa found herself talking, everyone’s attention now on her — including Emma’s. “It’s not a choice and honestly, if people feel like they can be out and proud, this is a great time to be alive. So, here goes. I am head over heels in love with you Emma Nolan.”

 

All hell broke loose, but Alyssa could only focus on Emma who was standing there in a state of shock. Alyssa felt like she was floating towards the blonde, like everything that was weighing her down was off of her shoulders and she was right in front of Emma, holding her hands to keep her from floating away.

 

“Holy shit,” Emma whispered, it was soft enough that no one else heard except Alyssa who was nearly nose to nose with her. “Alyssa did you just—”

 

“Alyssa Isabelle Greene-“ both girls snapped out of their moment to face Mrs. Greene. Emma instinctually took a step forward, subtlety pulling Alyssa behind her to shield the brunette, holding one of her hands in both of hers. “How could you not tell me?”

 

“Because Mom, you’ve been leading this crusade, and I know you don’t agree with this, but please just try.” Alyssa stood firm, Emma’s thumb tracing patterns on the back of her hand. Her mother opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Barry—

 

“Please, don’t do this, you’re going to keep pushing her away and you could lose your daughter. You could lose her forever. And I know you don’t want that to happen.” He was pleading with her, and it was enough for Mrs. Greene to take a breath and look at Alyssa, a softness in her eyes.

 

“We will talk about this, okay?” Alyssa nodded and her mother turned and sped walked out of the gym.

 

Alyssa turned Emma towards her again and smiled.

 

“I think I just came out to my mom,” she said, more to herself than to Emma.

 

“I think you just came out to the whole school,” Emma looked around at the now full gym, it was lunchtime and the students heard rumors about the new prom and wanted to see it for themselves. Shelby and Kaylee were looking at the couple with glee.

 

“Holy shit!”

 

“Yeah, that’s what I said.” Emma took a second and watched Alyssa’s face while she processed. “Lys, I love you too. And, I was wondering, will you go to prom with me? For real this time.”

 

“Of course!!!!” Alyssa threw her arms around her girlfriend’s neck who spun her around. They remembered they weren’t alone when Trent came up and scooped them both into a crushing hug.

 

“See Alyssa! I told you everything would work out!!!” Both Emma and Alyssa looked at each other and had to bite back smiles.

 

Trent set them down and Alyssa began to properly introduce herself to Angie and Barry, both of whom wrapped her in a big hug. Mr. Hawkins looked at the girls with pride for a couple seconds before stirring up the PTA and students to help set up for the new prom. Emma and Alyssa were excused from their afternoon classes to help the Broadway Group who immediately told them to go home and start getting ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so I had this written as one huge chapter that I decided to cut in half, I hope y'all liked it! please leave comments and kudos because that's the only way I feel happiness anymore. 
> 
> Also if you wanna follow me on tumblr I would absolutely love that: datonegayone


	15. Chapter 15

Emma drove the two of them to the Nolan Farm, Alyssa didn’t want to go home and face her mother just yet. They took a minute parked outside of the house and sat in silence. 

“Your song — was it, was it about us?” Alyssa asked, looking at her hands. 

“Yeah, it’s stuff I’ve been wanting to say to everyone about us but couldn’t.” Emma mumbled glancing at the brunette, “I’m sorry.” 

“Sorry for what?” Alyssa’s head snapped up to look at the girl in the driver’s seat. 

“For breaking up with you, I said a lot of stuff I didn’t mean. I never stopped loving you, I hope you know that.” Emma sniffed. She didn’t realize how tense she was until Alyssa took her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. 

“I know, and I wish I could have been there for you in every possible way,” Alyssa’s other hand went to Emma’s cheek, gently wiping a tear that was making its way down her face. “But, now I can be, and I will always be right here by your side.” 

Emma turned her head and pressed a kiss into Alyssa’s palm. “Let’s get ready for prom babe.” 

“Emma, I don’t have a dress or anything here.” 

“Barry brought in a ton for me to try, I know there’s going to be something that you like in the pile. Plus Gran is a freaking witch when it comes to sewing so she can make sure it fits you.” 

“Wait, you wore a dress to the first prom?” Alyssa’s brow creased as she tried to picture her girlfriend in a prom dress. 

“Yeah, I wanted to be normal I guess,” Emma said, picking at the worn leather of the steering wheel. “But I have something else already picked out for this one.”

“Well what are we waiting for?” Alyssa was giddy at the thought of trying on dozens of dresses, and jumped out of the car, practically running into the house. Emma smiled as she watched the cheerleader trip on the step leading into the house. 

— — 

Emma was sequestered in her room as Betsy helped Alyssa with her dress choice. She passed the time by picking away at her guitar, trying to keep her mind off her excitement for the night. Betsy yelled up to her room letting her know it was safe to come down about an hour before they had to leave for the prom — Emma was finishing up tying her tie while she walked down the stairs, gasping when she looked up and saw Alyssa’s back to her. 

Alyssa always made Emma’s heart skip a beat, but Alyssa in her prom dress almost stopped Emma’s heart completely. She picked a purple dress that Emma didn’t try on, and Betsy altered it to fit her like a glove, her brown hair was in an updo that looked intricate but effortless at the same time — something that only Alyssa could do.

Alyssa turned around with a dazzling smile that fell into an open mouthed look of amazement. The tux Barry had made for her fit like a glove and it filled her with a confidence that she had never really felt before; her shoulders were back and her chin was just a little higher in the air. A smile danced across her lips as she took a few steps towards Alyssa. 

“Emma— you look. Holy shit. You look hot.” Alyssa took a second to look at Emma from top to bottom before stepping forward and pressing a kiss onto her lips. Emma’s hand slipped to the back of Alyssa’s neck and both girls separated and pressed their foreheads together. 

“Okay, well, I am going to be going to the city for the night, please don’t burn the house down or choke on each other’s tongues.” Betsy said with a chuckle, watching both girls turn extremely red. “Alyssa, you are more than welcome to stay here as long as you need honey.” 

“Thank you Betsy, for everything.” Alyssa separated herself from Emma to give the woman a hug. 

“Of course honey. Y’all have fun tonight, and please be safe.” And with that Betsy grabbed her bag and headed out of the house, leaving a smiling Emma and Alyssa. 

Alyssa nearly jumped into Emma’s arms the second the door closed, burying her smile into Emma’s neck. Emma’s hands looped around Alyssa’s waist, playing with the layers of violet tulle. They stood like that for a while, both taking comfort in the fact that they were together and were going to finally get the prom they always wanted. 

“Baby, I think we better get going, I honestly don’t think they’re going to start the prom without us.” Alyssa laughed, pulling on Emma’s hand and leading her out the door.

“Barry would have a conniption if people start to dance before us, I think he thinks this is our wedding.” Emma opened the door of her truck for Alyssa to climb in, which was rewarded with a kiss. 

“Please, Barry knows he is going to be at our wedding.” Alyssa rolled her eyes as Emma climbed into the car. “To be honest, he’s going to most likely going to be the one planning it, that is if he hasn’t started already.

They drove to the school, Emma singing along to the radio while Alyssa filmed her girlfriend to post on her Instagram story — her social media was about to get a lot more gay and Alyssa couldn’t be more excited. The sun was setting on a nearly full parking lot, the girls sat in the idling car for a few minutes. Emma’s hand was shaking in Alyssa’s. The brunette brought Emma’s hand up to her lips, pressing a kiss to it, smiling when Emma let out a breath and gave a slight nod. 

They walked into the school hand in hand. Hearts beating along with the muffled music drifting from the gym. Alyssa gave Emma’s hand a quick squeeze before opening the door and — 

Both girls looked around the gym in complete awe. Lights were dancing across the walls and music was blaring. Everything and everyone was covered in sparkles, including an excited Barry who rushed up to the girls with a toothy grin. 

“My sweetest little lesbians!” He yelled over the music. “Tonight belongs to you my baby girls, so have all the fun and just ignore the news cameras!” He pulled Emma into a quick hug and put a hand on Alyssa’s shoulder. 

The first hour was a whirlwind for the girls. Shelby and Kaylee commanded the majority of their attention, complimenting Alyssa’s dress and constantly apologizing to Emma for how they had treated her. Kevin and Nick were standing behind their girlfriends, not knowing what to say until Emma complimented Nick’s tie, which gave way to an entire conversation about suits and how Emma somehow managed to snag one of the hottest girls in school — something that earned elbows from the boys’ dates. 

The music slowed down for the first time since Emma and Alyssa walked into the gym, and they took the slight lull in conversation to make a break for the dancefloor. Emma sheepishly smiled as she put her hands on Alyssa’s waist, Alyssa linking her fingers behind Emma’s neck, gently pulling them closer together. 

They swayed like that, smiling and looking into each other’s eyes. Emma took Alyssa’s hand and spun her — which was met with a whoop from Angie, who was clutching Trent’s hand as they watched the girls dance. Alyssa’s smile was radiating pure joy. The fact that they were here — together — at the prom and Alyssa was glowing under the rainbow lights of the dancefloor, it was almost too much. 

Then Alyssa’s eyes traveled down to Emma’s lips and she was goner. 

Emma pulled back and practically launched herself at the cheerleader who smiled into the kiss. The entire gym erupted into applause, but neither girl could focus on anything else but each other. The room melted away while Emma cherished the feeling of Alyssa’s lips on hers. 

The music picked up and all the couples who were slow dancing broke apart to start dancing like over-caffeinated toddlers. Alyssa gave a slight head nod towards the doors and Emma smiled and let her girlfriend pull her out of the gym and down the halls to their band closet. 

Emma unlocked the door and did a double take. Their closet looked the same — well, minus the rose petals and candles lit everywhere. In the middle of the room was an envelope. 

Give her some Zazz!!!  
Love, Angie

“Oh my fucking god.” Emma just blinked at the piece of paper in her hand, feeling the embarrassment rising up from the bottom of her stomach. 

“Em, what is Zazz and why are you giving it to me?” Alyssa asked, trying to hold back a laugh. 

“It’s Angie trying to be a ‘cool mom’” Emma said, turning around and sliding her hands to the small of Alyssa’s back. “You look really beautiful Lys.” 

Alyssa smiled and leaned in for a kiss that took Emma’s breath away. Her fingers dug into the purple fabric as Alyssa sucked on her bottom lip. Emma tried to hold back a whine in the back of her throat, but failed, causing Alyssa to bite down and pull the blonde in closer by the lapels of her jacket. 

“I love this jacket on you by the way.”

“Alyssa, this is not the time to talk about my outfit choices,” Emma whispered in a raspy voice, letting the jacket fall to the floor. 

Alyssa got busy unbuttoning Emma’s shirt as Emma loosened her tie. Alyssa pushed the shirt off of Emma’s shoulders as the blonde pressed open mouth kisses down her neck, sucking at her pulse point. There was something liberating about being out and knowing that she could finally leave marks on Alyssa without either of them having to hide them or lie about how they got them anymore. 

Alyssa slowly dragged her nails up Emma’s bare back, smiling as the blonde shivered, while Emma played with the zipper along Alyssa’s spine. She eased the zipper down, her other hand sidling onto the newly exposed skin. Emma smiled as she felt Alyssa’s skin erupt in goosebumps. Alyssa’s hands slipped Emma’s bra straps down, peppering kisses on her clavicle. 

Emma’s leg instinctually went between Alyssa’s and the brunette had to hold back the moan that erupted from her throat. Alyssa started moving her hips against Emma’s thigh, her nails digging into the blonde’s shoulder blades. One of her hands slipped down to the button of Emma’s pants, playing with the waistband. Just barely slipping her fingers between the fabric and hot skin.

“Lys,” Emma said between labored breaths. “As much as I love what is happening right now. I really don’t wanna have sex in the band closet.”

“Does that mean having to put your shirt on?” Alyssa said, looking up from the red marks she was leaving on the tops of Emma’s breasts. 

“Yeah, baby. We gotta go out and thank the group for everything. Plus we only danced like once, and — oh God Lys, I need you to stop that right now before I take back everything I just said.” 

Alyssa stood up straight and started helping Emma find her discarded clothing, trying to hide a smirk. There was something strangely domestic about Alyssa buttoning up Emma’s shirt for her that made Emma’s stomach swoop. Alyssa lovingly buttoned the final button and kissed her nose. Emma got busy with her tie and Alyssa fixed smeared lipstick on the both of them.

They blew out the candles and agreed to clean up the closet on Monday before heading back to the gym. Angie gave a wink to Alyssa and pulled a flustered Mr. Flynn onto the dance floor. The girls joined the couples slow dancing, Alyssa’s head tucked onto Emma’s shoulder while Emma sang along in her ear. 

The numbers in the gym dwindled and students said goodbye to Emma and Alyssa. The two girls bid goodbye to the Broadway group and a clearly love-struck Mr. Hawkins, and walked out into the warm Indiana night hand-in-hand. 

“Emma, tonight was perfect. I cannot believe that you did all of this.” Alyssa said, looking up at her girlfriend. 

“I can’t believe that we don’t have to hide anymore,” Emma laughed and pressed a kiss to the top of Alyssa’s head. 

The drive home was relatively quiet until Alyssa got too antsy to wait to continue what they had started in the band closet. She started slow, pressing a gentle kiss under Emma’s ear, watching the blonde’s reaction through her lashes. She then moved to her pulse point, sucking slightly and leaving a gentle bite, hand tracing up and down Emma’s thigh. 

Emma was doing her best focusing on the road, maintaining a vice-like grip on the steering wheel. It wasn’t until Alyssa bit her earlobe and let out a breathy laugh that Emma floored it, pushing her truck to its max speed to get back to the farm before Alyssa killed her with kisses. 

They jumped out of the truck, ran into the house and up the stairs, slamming the bedroom door behind them. Alyssa jumped on Emma, wrapping her legs around her and kissing Emma like her life depended on it. Emma dropped the brunette on the bed, and loosened her tie before positioning herself over her girlfriend and closing the distance between their bodies.

— — 

Emma never thought she would be here, holding hands with Alyssa in their graduation gowns and caps. They smiled for pictures and got rightfully embarrassed when Barry set of an airhorn as their names were called to walk across the stage. Mrs. Greene and Betsy, sitting next to each other, snapped pictures of their girls accepting diplomas and shaking Mr. Hawkins’s hand. 

Alyssa’s valedictorian speech went off without a hitch — she was a state champion debater after all— and the two girls kissed as the square caps fell to the ground all around them. 

Their summer was spent together, Alyssa helping out at the farm and Emma joining the Greene’s for dinner most nights. Clear nights were spent stargazing and holding hands in the bed of Emma’s truck. Weekends with Shelby and Kaylee, swimming in the community pool and hiking in the mornings. 

In short, Edgewater was Heaven for those three months. 

August rolled around and Emma and Alyssa packed up their childhood bedrooms into a U-Haul. They kissed Betsy and Mrs. Greene goodbye and started off on their road trip to New York. Their apartment was located right between NYU and Columbia, and while it was small, it was perfect for the two women. Everything was perfect for Alyssa Greene and Emma Nolan. 

— — 

“Okay Carrie, this is the storage closet,” Mr. Flynn said, turning on the light in small room. “You have some big shoes to fill, but I have a feeling you’re going to be a great equipment manager. So that’s the end of the tour, here are your keys. I will see you at practice tomorrow after school.” 

There was something that was automatically comforting to Carrie as she looked around the storage room. The smell of pine from the boxes that store the marching band's uniforms during off-season, the soft light emitting from the singular light bulb dangling from a cord, and the quietness that filled the room. It all made Carrie feel safe and secure. 

— — 

Carrie: Babe, I think I found a place for us. Meet me in the band hall during lunch. 

Monae: Okay, I’ll see you then. Love you. 

— —

Carrie smiled as she locked her phone and turned off the light in the band closet. Shutting the door behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this was a bittersweet ending for me. Thank you all so much for reading and leaving all the comments and love on this, I am really proud to call this my first ever fic. I have a couple ideas for some new pieces about these two, so keep an eye out for those. 
> 
> Follow me on tumblr and yell with me about the Cats movie or how damn cute these two are: Datonegayone


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